Israel runs the World: Twitter hands over confidential data of anti-Semitic users to French authorities

A legal battle started last year between Twitter and Jewish students in France when the French Union of Jewish Students sued Twitter for allowing hate speech. In a bid to end the legal fracas and dance to the tune of the students, twitter decided to hand over confidential account information to French authorities in order to track the anti-semitic users.

Twitter said in a statement that the disclosure of information “enables the identification of some authors" and  "puts an end to the dispute" with the French Union of Jewish Students (UEJF), AFP reported. The social network added that the two parties had "agreed to continue to work actively together in order to fight racism and anti-Semitism.”

In June, the court upheld a January  ruling that said the social media site must provide personal information on some users to the UEJF and four other organizations that filed a complaint against the company in November last year. On Thursday, Twitter lost its legal fight after the Paris Court of Appeal dismissed its objections against the original ruling.

The complaint came after a deluge of anti-Semitic messages tweeted under the hashtag  #unbonjuif (#agoodjew), with some users posting offensive tweets such as “#agoodjew is a dead Jew.” Some of the tweets were later removed by the social network.

Hate crimes are strictly punished in France. However, Twitter originally argued that it does not adhere to French law, and that only an American judge could force the company to release such information, Twitter’s lawyer, Alexandra Neri, said. While Twitter says it defends freedom of speech from anonymous users, French prosecutors say the social media site has “commercial interest.”

“Twitter is playing a commercial game by raising a number of legal hurdles to not having to comply with its legal obligations,” Stephane Lilti, counsel for the UJEF students, told the court.

Twitter also shut down the account of neo-Nazi group “Better Hannover,” following a request by German police last year, which was banned by the state for spreading nationalist socialist ideology and damaging to Israel who suffered greatly during Adolf Hitler's reign. It was the first time Twitter withheld content by request of a specific country.

Israel's Election: Obama and Netanyahu on Palestine and Iran

The Israeli election is fast approaching and the centre-left Labour party led by Shelly Yachimovich is walking around the economy to garner strength during the election. Binyamin Netanyahu is favoured to win the election convincingly. Obama's mild face-off with Netanyahu is also boosting the morale of Netanyahu's campaign.

The whole affairs on security is a central campaign fact for the Likud Party; Iran's nuclear programme, Hamas defiant acts and the election of an Islamist regime in Egypt. All these are set to assist Netanyahu's Likud Party. Since no one party has ever won a real majority in Parliament, Netanyahu's choice becomes hard in coalition formation.

The Likud Party on January 22 will come out better and as the winner but the choice of Netanyahu remains tough in the race to gaining a convincing coalition to control the majority in Parliament. The extreme proportional representation forces Netanyahu to align with Yisrael Beitenu, a party who is more hawkish to the Palestinians than Netanyahu himself. 

Another party to watch out for in the new coalition is Habayit Hayehudi (The Jewish Home) led by the business and software mogul, Naftali Bennett. The coalition around Netanyahu brings the Palestinian question back into the campaign proper. Bennett is an hardline Jew who is really opposed to any home for the Palestinians.

While the criticism of Obama that Netanyahu's Israel is the main stumbling block to any peace with Palestine is being discussed within the party, it nonetheless has ironically bolstered Netanyahu's image and chances as the man who is for a real Jewish homeland since he supports settlements wholeheartedly.

Both Shelly Yachimovich, Netanyahu's closest rival and Binyamin had hoped to concentrate on domestic issues with the economy being the focus of the Labour Party and security being the point of campaign for the Likud Party but the 'Palestine Ghost' is once again proving to be one that has stubbornly refused death. After Palestine comes Iran and her nuclear programme.

Since Chuck Hagel, Obama's preferred Secretary of Defense is seen within Israel not as a war hawk, it makes a whole lot of sense to re-elect Netanyahu and the coalition who can meander and make the Islamic regime realise that Israel will always be ready to strike. Obama himself is indirectly sent a message that settlement and a 'single' homeland for all is the only solution not a two-state solution.