Facebook is taking action against Hamas’ support of terrorism on its social media platform.
The Hamas terror group on Saturday slammed Facebook after the social media giant blocked dozens of accounts and pages in support of the terror organization.
Facebook made the move following the launch of a social media campaign lauding the actions of Hamas terror mastermind Yahya Ayyash, their first bomb manufacturer, the Palestinian Maan news agency reported.
Husam Badran, a Hamas spokesman, said that Facebook has closed more than 90 pages supporting Hamas, in addition to 30 personal accounts affiliated with the terror group.
“This vicious campaign came after the launching of the 21st anniversary of the assassination of the first engineer of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas’ armed wing), Yahya Ayyash,” Badran said in a statement.
Israel assassinated Ayyash in 1996. He was the mastermind of several suicide attacks against Israelis that murdered 76 and wounded 363 victims.
Ayyash is known among Hamas supporters as “The Engineer,” as he was the first terrorist to manufacture a bomb for the organization. He is a celebrated hero in Hamas-ruled Gaza and in the Palestinian Authority-administered territory, where streets and prominent institutions are named in his honor
As part of the anniversary, Hamas supporters launched a campaign praising Ayyash’s murderous actions under the slogan “Be Like Ayyash,” prompting Facebook to shut down more than a hundred Hamas-linked pages and accounts.
Badran slammed the closure of Hamas’ support pages as a “persistent collusion of the Facebook administration with Israeli occupation policies,” urging Palestinian Facebook users to look for other alternatives.
Social media is widely used by terror-promoting elements to disseminate hatred of Israelis.
Over the past year, Israel has detained several Palestinians for promoting terrorism on social media.
By: United with Israel Staff