YouTube freezes Palestinian Media Watch account
Palestinian Media Watch is an organization whose stated mission is to monitor, translate and disseminate all forms of media broadcast by the Palestinian Authority. These translations, videos and transcriptions showcase a steady stream of virulent anti-Semitic and anti-Western sentiment, often with direct calls for physical violence.
Many believe PMW offers a valuable service as it provides key insights into the way the PA thinks and operates. Now, however, for at least the second time, PMW’s YouTube service has been disrupted after the watchdog group uploaded a vitriolic Fatah video in which Jewish people are referred to as “descendants of apes and pigs” and the PA Mufti Muhammad Hussein calls on Palestinians to “kill the Jews” no matter what “rock or tree” they “hide” behind.
Of course, the hate speech and calls for violence do not come directly from PMW. PMW merely translates and disseminates what was already produced and broadcast by the PA.
YouTube administrators have deemed the most recent upload as “inaproriate,” and have subsequently removed the video from its site and frozen PMW’s user account. This is not the fist time YouTube has taken such actions against PMW and the exact reasons are unclear. Some critics say YouTube has bowed to pressure from Islamic special interest groups.