April 7, 2013

SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) – Facebook has removed a page featuring anti-Jewish content, including a photo of murdered Jews in a mass grave at Bergen-Belsen with the headline “Lazy Jews.”

In response to a formal complaint by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Mia Garlick, Facebook’s Sydney-based manager of communications and policy, confirmed Saturday that the Jewish memes page was no longer available.

Peter Wertheim, executive director of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, welcomed the removal and said that Facebook’s decision about another 15 such pages about which the council has complained is pending.

“The Jewish memes page not only represents a slur on all Jews, as Jews, but also subtly seeks to justify and therefore incite violence against them,” Wertheim wrote. “Many of the posted comments lay bare the hateful purpose of this page.”

 Wertheim added that the Facebook page violates both Australian law though the Racial Discrimination Act, and Facebook’s Terms of Service against hate speech.
 

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