In what is an obvious violation of the basic freedom of speech, U.S. lawmakers have relaunched their efforts to have Hamas silenced out of the cyber space. Similar efforts have been made in the past, and in the wake of the recent Gaza crisis, these Republican lawmakers are once again active with their agenda.
What is most intriguing is the fact that the fresh Gaza conflict was largely initiated by Israel and that Hamas was able to report the casualties in Gaza in real-time. Naturally, with statistics and images coming right out of Gaza, the international media which is pre-dominantly pro-Israel was left with little space to perpetuate its incorrect statistics.
Thus, it makes it pertinent for pro-Israel groups, which includes Republicans at large, to have Hamas banned from Twitter, because during the recent conflict, Hamas made active use of Twitter. Seven Republican lawmakers recently submitted a letter to the FBI Director, demanding that FBI must coordinate with Twitter to take down the accounts of such groups which have been deemed terrorists by the U.S.
Rep. Ted Poe lead this group and eventually explained his stance in an email which read, “Allowing foreign terrorist organizations like Hamas to operate on Twitter is enabling the enemy. ailure to block access arms them with the ability to freely spread their violent propaganda and mobilize in their War on Israel. Anti-American foreign terrorist groups around the world are doing the same thing every day. The FBI and Twitter must recognize sooner rather than later that social media is a tool for the terrorists.”
Naturally, this is a contentious issue. If U.S. demands a ban on the groups it dislikes, and if Twitter is made to oblige, that essentially makes freedom of speech almost non-existent on Twitter. Let’s hope that the social media does not succumb to the pressures and prejudices of the political big-wigs in U.S. or elsewhere.
Courtesy: The Hill
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