Twitter removes offensive photos of Israeli leaders

Photos of Israeli leaders in kaffiyehs and Nazi uniforms spread across the social media platform.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Updated: JULY 28, 2015 01:15
Twitter logo (photo credit: TWITTER)
Twitter logo
(photo credit: TWITTER)
The social media site Twitter agreed to a request from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party to remove pictures the party considered incitement, sources in the party revealed Monday.
A man identifying himself as Asheriko – who has only two followers on Twitter – had posted pictures of Netanyahu, President Reuven Rivlin, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Supreme Court President Miriam Naor, Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein and State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan in keffiyehs and Nazi uniforms.
“We’ve investigated and suspended the account you reported as it was found to be participating in abusive behavior,” Twitter wrote to the Likud’s social media coordinator Jonatan Urich. “If problems persist for you on Twitter, please let us know.”
Over the past several months, there have been multiple incidents in which photographs of Israeli politicians in Nazi garb were posted online. Besides those listed above, recent victims include Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid, Zionist Union MK Tzipi Livni and former police i n s p e c t o r - g e n e r a l Yohanan Danino.
In October 1995, a small picture of thenprime minister Yitzhak Rabin in an SS uniform was circulated at a Jerusalem rally warning of the dangers of the Oslo Accords. The Left pointed to that picture as a factor in Rabin’s assassination one month later.