TEL AVIV – An Israeli media watchdog monitoring Palestinian incitement has had its YouTube channel terminated for ostensibly violating the video-sharing site’s “terms of service” after it released a video showing a Palestinian child reciting a provocative anti-Israel poem.
The NGO Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) said in a press release that after they uploaded a video on Thursday showing a Palestinian girl recite a poem on PA TV that calls for a “war that will smash the oppressor and destroy the Zionist’s soul,” YouTube closed the group’s account, which contained “nearly all” of its videos.
On Saturday, Breitbart Jerusalem ran an article on the PMW report on incitement of children. The videos in the article are still accessible via YouTube.
“It is outrageous and surprising that YouTube would close PMW’s account,” the PMW press release stated, adding “PMW’s exposure of Palestinian incitement and hate speech is recognized and lauded by parliaments and governments around the world.”
According to PMW, this is not the first time YouTube has shut down the NGO’s account, but in the past the video-sharing giant “eventually recognized its mistakes.”
“The worst case was when YouTube shut down PMW’s account in 2010, and after receiving many outraged emails from PMW subscribers, and requests directed to YouTube’s directors, YouTube reinstated PMW’s account.”
PMW stated that YouTube’s actions are “a blow to the war on terror,” and petitioned them to immediately reinstate its account “in the urgent interest of peace.”
UPDATE:
On Monday, YouTube reinstated PMW’s account.
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