11 July 2017 Update: Following a lot of interest in this article and the subsequent one posted by the Roths, Symantec have dropped the hate classification for their blog and also for Elder of Ziyon. However, the 'hate' classification for this site and the others mentioned below remains.
I have
previously posted about how pro-Israel blogs in the UK (and elsewhere including even in Israel) are censored or blocked completely by internet service providers.
After discovering that his own site was blocked by Sky-UK,
Elder of Ziyon discovered that this was due to Symantec classifying his site as "Hate". He noted (as I had previously reported) that other pro-Israel sites such as
Israellycool,
Israel Matzav and
Abu Yehuda all get the same "Hate" classification. Most internet service providers (including Sky, Virgin, and EE) use the Symantec classification and normally either block such sites or require 'parental unlocking' to view them.
Using the
symantec link I checked a number of other pro-Israel sites (including this one
http://edgar1981.blogspot.co.uk/) and found that they too were classified as "Hate". Included inevitably were
pamelageller,
jihadwatch and
thereligionofpeace, as well as the outstanding
sultanknish.
But what shocked me was that the "Hate" classification was also assigned to
This Ongoing War. This is the moving blog dedicated to the memory of 15-year-old Malki Roth who was murdered in the 2001 Hamas massacre in Jerusalem’s Sbarro restaurant that was engineered by Ahlam Tamimi. Malki's parents Frima and Arnold have campaigned for Tamimi - who is on the FBI's most-wanted terrorist list - to be brought to justice (she is currently living in luxury, inciting more terrorism, under the protection of the Jordanian government who have refused a US extradition request). While it is shameful that all of the above sites are classified as hate sites, it is especially pernicious in this case, as it demonstrates the extent to which the antisemites who masquerade as 'Palestine supporters' in the UK will go to prevent the truth being heard and justice being done.
Inevitably none of the anti-Israel sites, most of which are dripping with overt antisemitism, are classified as hate sites. Hence
https://bdsmovement.net/ and
http://www.brightonpsc.org/ are classified simply as "Politics", while
http://mondoweiss.net/ is classified as "shopping, blogging", and most bizarrely one of the leading provider of blood libels
https://www.palestinecampaign.org/ is actually classified as a "Law site". We know it is the antisemitic 'Palestine supporters' in the UK who are behind the campaign to censor all pro-Israel sites. As evidence that these 'Palestine supporters' are not actually concerned about 'hate' (but are simply driven by hate of the Jewish state), I noticed that the most aggressively anti-Muslim website that I know of -
http://www.barnhardt.biz/ - is classified simply as "religion. This is because it never discusses Israel at all and so doesn't come under the radar of the antisemites.
For the record it is also worth noting that most of the sites will not be blocked outside of the UK because the classification changes when the "uk" suffix is changed to another country. For example the Israel version of this site
http://edgar1981.blogspot.co.il/ is classified as "Dynamic, Blogger, English".
UPDATE: Symantec have sent me all round the houses, first through a FaceBook messenger conversation when they finally said they were not qualified to help and told me to contact their regular support desk which has no email address. I called the UK number (which unlike the US one is not free) and was passed from person to person eventually being put through to the mobile number of someone who 'should be able to help'. No answer, left message, no response so far. Also it seems Symantec have a long history with this sort of behaviour - they were doing the same thing to
other types of sites that did not fit the politically correct (meaning extreme leftist) narrative.
See also:
