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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element" dir="ltr"> <font
size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/facebook-gives-nod-secret-pro-israel-campaign">https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/facebook-gives-nod-secret-pro-israel-campaign</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Facebook gives nod to secret pro-Israel
campaign</h1>
<p class="node__submitted">
<span class="field field-author"><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/ali-abunimah">Ali
Abunimah</a></span> <span class="field field-blog">-</span>
<span class="field field-publication-date"><span
class="date-display-single"
content="2019-02-21T14:05:52+00:00">21 February 2019</span></span>
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<figure id="file-74946"><source media="(min-width:
72rem)"><figcaption><small><span></span></small></figcaption></figure>
<p><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/facebook">Facebook</a>
has banned several pages belonging to such viral media
outlets as In the Now because they are affiliates of
the Russian-funded network RT – even though these
media outlets violated none of the social network’s
rules.</p>
<p>Yet The Electronic Intifada can exclusively reveal
that Facebook has given a nod of approval to a network
of secretive and deceptive pages set up by The Israel
Project, a lobby group that <a
href="https://www.theisraelproject.org/conference_with_yossi_kuperwasser">collaborates</a>
<a
href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/bds-is-a-dirty-business-those-who-battle-it-on-israels-behalf-must-stay-clean/">with</a>
the <a
href="https://www.theisraelproject.org/michael_oren_conference_call_12_6_2017">Israeli
government</a> and <a
href="https://www.theisraelproject.org/conference_with_deputy_of_israel_council">with</a>
<a
href="https://www.theisraelproject.org/tip_conference_call_with_colonel_eyal_rosen_former_head_of_the_idf_southern_command_artillery_unit">Israel’s</a>
<a
href="https://www.theisraelproject.org/tip_conference_call_with_amos_gilad">military</a>
<a
href="https://www.theisraelproject.org/tip_conference_call_with_nitzan_nuriel_the_former_director_of_the_counter_terror_bureau_at_the_prime_minister_s_office">establishment</a>
to influence public opinion against Palestinians.</p>
<p>Last week, Facebook took down several pages run by
Maffick Media. This came after CNN <a
href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/15/tech/russia-facebook-viral-videos/index.html">ran
a report</a> that the majority stakeholder of the
company “is Ruptly, a subsidiary of RT, which is
funded by the Russian government.”</p>
<p>Often featuring reporter Rania Khalek, one of those
outlets, In The Now, creates viral videos on current
affairs, including this recent one debunking US claims
used to justify the Trump administration’s regime
change effort in Venezuela:</p>
<div id="file-74951">
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">It’s moments like this you
should really question why CNN, why the US
government and its proxy think tanks are so
scared of what people like me and <a
href="https://twitter.com/AnissaNow?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AnissaNow</a>
have to say. These entities really want to shut
us up. Why? Because we say things like this <a
href="https://t.co/xMabspwZcP">pic.twitter.com/xMabspwZcP</a></p>
— Rania Khalek (@RaniaKhalek) <a
href="https://twitter.com/RaniaKhalek/status/1096735241211920384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February
16, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p>Khalek is a <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/rania-khalek">former
editor and writer</a> for The Electronic Intifada.</p>
<h2>Government-linked censorship</h2>
<p>As Kevin Gosztola <a
href="https://shadowproof.com/2019/02/16/cnn-manufactured-story-about-russia-video-company-facebook-censorship/">reported
for <em>Shadowproof</em></a>, CNN’s hit piece
revealed no violations of Facebook policies by Maffick
Media’s pages.</p>
<div id="file-74956">
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<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Seriously, I encourage you
to watch the videos I’ve posted in this thread
& go check out <a
href="https://twitter.com/IntheNow_tweet?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@IntheNow_tweet</a>’s
other videos, which cover climate change,
politics & history. Watch and ask yourself
why CNN finds this content so offensive that it
pressured <a
href="https://twitter.com/facebook?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Facebook</a>
to censor it</p>
— Rania Khalek (@RaniaKhalek) <a
href="https://twitter.com/RaniaKhalek/status/1097540558623596544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February
18, 2019</a></blockquote>
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<div id="file-74961">
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<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">It has been 3 days since <a
href="https://twitter.com/facebook?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@facebook</a>
suspended <a
href="https://twitter.com/IntheNow_tweet?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@IntheNow_tweet</a>'s
page at the behest of <a
href="https://twitter.com/CNN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CNN</a>
and US government funded think tanks. We had
almost 4 million subscribers, did not violate
any Facebook rules, were given no warning &
Facebook isn’t responding to us.</p>
— Rania Khalek (@RaniaKhalek) <a
href="https://twitter.com/RaniaKhalek/status/1097519030318100482?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February
18, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p>However CNN drew on Ben Nimmo of the Atlantic
Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab as a supposed
expert to claim that In The Now journalists “routinely
boost Kremlin narratives, especially those which
portray the West negatively.”</p>
<p>A pro-war think tank, The Atlantic Council boasts <a
href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/support/supporters">funders</a>
including NATO, the governments of the United States,
United Kingdom and United Arab Emirates, and a slew of
arms companies.</p>
<p>Its supposed digital sleuth Nimmo has such a poor
track record that he has <a
href="https://grayzoneproject.com/2018/10/23/facebook-censorship-of-alternative-media-just-the-beginning-says-top-neocon-insider/">falsely
identified</a> living individuals, including a
Ukrainian concert pianist and a British senior
citizen, as “Russian bots.”</p>
<p>CNN also acknowledged that the relationship between
Maffick Media and RT was brought to its attention by
the Alliance for Securing Democracy, a cut-out of the
<a href="http://www.gmfus.org/our-partners">US and
NATO-financed</a> German Marshall Fund.</p>
<p>The Alliance for Securing Democracy’s “<a
href="https://securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/about-us/advisory-council/">advisory
council</a>” is a who’s who of US government figures
and right-wing ideologues including former Secretary
of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, neoconservative
war hawk Bill Kristol, former CIA acting director
Michael Morell, Hillary Clinton presidential campaign
chair John Podesta and former NATO Supreme Allied
Commander Admiral James Stavridis.</p>
<p>CNN reporters <a
href="https://twitter.com/joshscampbell/status/1097180952751529984">claimed</a>
that their network’s “investigation” uncovered that
“Russia is paying to produce viral videos aimed at
Americans” – even though the fact that In The Now has
Russian funding was <a
href="https://twitter.com/AricToler/status/1097666056070615040">not
a secret</a> and already <a
href="https://twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1097843838301978624">widely</a>
<a
href="https://twitter.com/adamjohnsonNYC/status/1097662909767925760">known</a>.</p>
<p>CNN even misquoted Maffick Media chief operating
officer J. Ray Sparks to make it seem like he had
acknowledged duplicitous behavior by his company to
conceal its Russian funding, when he was merely noting
that it was “standard industry practice” among all
media outlets not to include extensive disclosures
about their ownership structures.</p>
<p>CNN was forced to issue a correction after Gosztola
revealed this deception.</p>
<div id="file-74966">
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Here's conversation I
recorded with <a
href="https://twitter.com/RaniaKhalek?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RaniaKhalek</a>
about CNN, which fabricated a story around her
work and the work of In The Now. They had little
to nothing until Facebook censored journalists
critical of US govt. Then CNN published their
report. <a href="https://t.co/da2B4XoGgl">https://t.co/da2B4XoGgl</a></p>
— Kevin Gosztola (@kgosztola) <a
href="https://twitter.com/kgosztola/status/1097967778705928192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February
19, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p>Journalist Glenn Greenwald, a campaigner against
censorship, <a
href="https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1097834759181553664">excoriated</a>
CNN as “obsessed with, and steadfastly devoted to,
pressuring social media companies to censor from the
internet political content critical of the US
government.”</p>
<div id="file-74971">
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">CNN is obsessed with, and
steadfastly devoted to, pressuring social media
companies to censor from the internet political
content critical of the US Govt. They work with
US-funded groups to do it. What odd behavior for
a news outlet: sounds more like an arm of the
State Dept. <a href="https://t.co/9fKht31I7o">https://t.co/9fKht31I7o</a></p>
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) <a
href="https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1097834759181553664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February
19, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p>Greenwald also <a
href="https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1097835497429307392">pointed
out</a> that CNN’s owner, “AT&T, has very close
relationships with the US security state, especially
its spying.”</p>
<div id="file-74976">
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">CNN's owner, AT&T, has
very close relationships with the US security
state, especially its spying. CNN never
discloses this. CNN employs many ex-agents. They
never disclose the interests of their weapons
advertisers in the wars they promote. But they
demand FB censors others.</p>
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) <a
href="https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1097835497429307392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February
19, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p>The network also “employs many ex-agents” and “never
disclose the interests of their weapons advertisers in
the wars they promote,” Greenwald added. “But they
demand Facebook censors others.”</p>
<h2>Secret Israeli propaganda</h2>
<p>In stark contrast to Facebook’s swift removal of
pages belonging to media outlets that challenge US
government policies, the social network has taken no
action against <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/censored-film-reveals-israel-projects-secret-facebook-campaign/25486">a
secret influence campaign</a> run by The Israel
Project, a major lobby group.</p>
<p>The effort to manipulate unsuspecting Facebook users
was revealed in <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/lobby-usa"><em>The
Lobby – USA</em></a>, an undercover Al Jazeera
documentary that was never broadcast by the network
due to <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/national-security-cited-reason-al-jazeera-nixed-israel-lobby-film/24566">censorship
by Qatar</a> following pressure from pro-Israel
organizations.</p>
<p>But The Electronic Intifada obtained a leaked copy of
the film and <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/watch-film-israel-lobby-didnt-want-you-see/25876">published
it in full</a> in November.</p>
<p>The Israel Project created a network of seemingly
innocuous pages, including <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/DailyCupOfJane/">Cup
of Jane</a> – which has more than half a million
followers – <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/SoulMamaCares/">Soul
Mama</a>, <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/HistoryBites/">History
Bites</a>, <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/WeOnlyHaveOneEarth">We
Have Only One Earth</a> and <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/ThisExplainsThat/">This
Explains That</a>.</p>
<p>These pages mostly share funny or inspirational
material, often with a progressive or feminist tilt,
mostly with no connection to Israel.</p>
<p>But The Israel Project regularly drops pro-Israel
material into the stream of content – while concealing
entirely or failing to explicitly acknowledge that the
pages are run by a group that works to promote Israel
and its government’s policies.</p>
<p>In the leaked film, Jordan Schachtel, who worked for
The Israel Project at the time, tells the undercover
Al Jazeera reporter about the logic and extent of the
covert Facebook operation:</p>
<p>“We’re putting together a lot of pro-Israel media
through various social media channels that aren’t The
Israel Project’s channels,” Schachtel tells the
undercover reporter. “So we have a lot of side
projects that we are trying to influence the public
debate with.”</p>
<p>“That’s why it’s a secretive thing,” Schachtel adds.
“Because we don’t want people to know that these side
projects are associated with The Israel Project.”</p>
<p>The reporter asks if the idea of “all the rest of the
non-Israel stuff is to allow the Israel stuff to pass
better.”</p>
<p>“It’s just that we want to like blend in everything,”
Schachtel explains.</p>
<p>David Hazony, the managing director of The Israel
Project, is also heard telling Al Jazeera’s undercover
reporter: “There are also things that we do that are
completely off the radar. We work together with a lot
of other organizations.”</p>
<p>“We produce content that they then publish with their
own name on it,” Hazony adds.</p>
<p>In September, soon after it revealed The Israel
Project-run pages, The Electronic Intifada asked
Facebook if the secret influence campaign violated any
of Facebook’s policies – particularly in light of the
furore over the alleged, though <a
href="https://www.thenation.com/article/russiagate-elections-interference/">unsubstantiated
or false</a>, charges of a massive Russia-backed
effort to use social media to influence the 2016 US
presidential election.</p>
<p>But until now, The Electronic Intifada did not
publish Facebook’s response: A spokesperson for
Facebook wrote that the company looked at the pages
covertly run by The Israel Project and concluded that
they “don’t violate any of Facebook’s pages policies.”</p>
<p>This is hardly surprising given that it was <a
href="https://theintercept.com/2017/12/30/facebook-says-it-is-deleting-accounts-at-the-direction-of-the-u-s-and-israeli-governments/">already
known</a> that Facebook partners with the Israeli
and US governments to delete accounts that those
governments do not like.</p>
<p>But it is more clear proof that Facebook isn’t
concerned about protecting users from unwitting
exposure to government propaganda.</p>
<p>Rather, it is colluding with the US and allied
governments, and government-aligned corporate media
like CNN, to suppress reportage and opinion that
challenge the United States and its client regimes
like Israel.</p>
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