Foreign Ministry creating new app

Program will help locate words ‘knife’ and ‘Jew’ in social media.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Updated: NOVEMBER 30, 2015 02:23
Facebook page titled "My Hobby Is Burning the Zionist Flag" featured image with caption "The Knife Intifada." (photo credit: MEMRI)
Facebook page titled "My Hobby Is Burning the Zionist Flag" featured image with caption "The Knife Intifada."
(photo credit: MEMRI)
As part of its new offensive against Palestinian incitement on the internet, the Foreign Ministry plans to create new software to locate the words “knife” and “Jew” on social media.
Under the auspices of the Foreign Ministry’s communications department, a new office of around eight to ten people with backgrounds in both Arabic and technology will be set up to counter the wave of incitement against Israel and against Jews on social media platforms.
The new office will be charged with locating inflammatory video clips and contacting the relevant social media networks, such as YouTube, Google and Facebook. It will also develop codes and software to help recognize incitement on the web.
“This is a big step in the war on incitement,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely, who is helping lead the initiative.
The daily attacks in Israel, committed “mostly by teenagers and children,” are the result of incitement on social networks, she said.
This war on incitement requires a core operational staff that will coordinate the necessary actions against the social media networks, said Hotovely.
Although the Foreign Ministry is already engaged in such work, there is no formal body that handles the issue, she said.
Palestinian media showing incitement aimed at children
“I’m certain that once the incitement drops, so will the violence,” said Hotovely.
In a related development, the IDF on Sunday shut down a Palestinian radio station in Hebron for the third time this month.
IDF troops raided the offices of Radio Darim, which is located in the Ras a-Jura neighborhood of Hebron, before dawn on Sunday.
Soldiers confiscated broadcasting equipment and computers.
The army said in a statement that it closed down the station due to “incitement” that was broadcast on its airwaves.
Earlier this month, the army shut down Radio Hebron and Al-Huriya, two other radio stations which have been accused of broadcasting anti-Israel content.