Facebook Apologises for Censoring Video of Anti-Semitic Attack in Berlin

Facebook has apologised for censoring a viral video of an anti-Semitic attack on a Jewish restaurant owner in which he and a 60-year-old German man argued about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with the latter telling the business owner he deserved to be put in a “gas chamber”.

Facebook apologised for taking down the video, which had been shared hundreds of thousands of times, saying: “Our reporting systems are designed to protect people from abuse, hate speech, and bullying, and we regret occasionally making mistakes when handling such reports. We know that it can be frustrating when such a mistake happens and apologise for it,” Der Spiegel reports.

The video shows the incident, which took place Berlin’s Schöneberg district, where the 60-year-old gets aggressive and starts ranting about the recent decision made by U.S. President Donald Trump to move his country’s Israeli embassy to the capital, Jerusalem.

The older man then tells the Jewish restaurant owner: “With you, it’s all about the money.” He then speaks to the 29-year-old friend of the owner saying: “You’ll all end up in the gas chamber.”

A police car happened to drive by during the incident and police later confirmed that the man had been taken into custody. The man is said to have resisted the arresting officers and is now facing possible charges for both incitement and resisting arrest.

Anti-Semitic incidents in Germany have been on the rise in the last few years. Berlin, in particular, has seen many anti-Semitic incidents in recent months.

Schools, especially those with many children from Muslim-migrant backgrounds, have claimed that the phrase “You Jew!” has become a common playground slur. In one Berlin school, a Jewish boy was forced to switch schools because of harassment and violence due to his religion.

After the announcement by President Trump earlier this month to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, several protests against the move in Berlin have contained anti-Semitic imagery with one even calling for a violent uprising or “intifada” while another saw Israeli flags burned.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com