IT IS ironic that even former right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had rejected a Knesset (Israeli parliament) Bill which proposed to give the government greater power to control and suppress online content. This was in 2016 and the Bill was introduced by Netanyahu’s Likud Party rival, Gideon Sa’ar. 

Some analysts argued that Netanyahu had feared that a law aimed at suppressing Palestinian freedom of speech online could be exploited by his enemies to control his own speech and incitement. Now that Netanyahu is no longer in the picture, the Bill is back and so is Sa’ar.

Gideon Sa’ar is currently Israel’s justice minister and deputy prime minister. While his boss, Naftali Bennett, is moving rapidly to expand settlements and to worsen already horrific realities for Palestinians on the ground, Sa’ar is expanding the Israeli military occupation of Palestinians to the digital realm. What is known as the “Facebook law” is set to grant “Israeli courts the power to demand the removal of user-generated content on social media content platforms that can be perceived as inflammatory or as harming ‘the security of the state,’ or the security of people or the security of the public.”