“… the facts on the ground in Egypt elevate this song from mere ‘speech’ to a real threat against real people in the real world,” says Center official
The Simon Wiesenthal Center is urging YouTube officials to remove a video by Egyptian singer Amr El Masry. The song “Baheb Israel, I Love Israel,” features lyrics like “I loveIsrael. May it disappear from the universe. God, please have it banished.”
In a June 7th email to YouTube officials, Wiesenthal Center associate dean, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, whose Digital Terrorism and Hate Project tracks online hate andterror, charged, “The song, by an Egyptian, Amr El Masry actually promotes the destruction of Israel.” Cooper stated that while he appreciated YouTube's speech rules, “…given thecurrent reality on the ground in Egypt with growing calls to destroy their Jewish neighbors, this posting of a popular artist's song goes beyond the boundaries of ‘speech.’” Hesaid that one of the lyrics in particular, 'May it dangle from the noose. May I get to see it burning, Amen. I will pour petrol on it.'’ is, “not an abstract but a threat.”
“Please have your team review the facts on the ground in Egypt which elevates this song from mere ‘speech’ to a real threat against real people in the real world,” Rabbi Cooperconcluded.
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The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO atinternational agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).
