Facebook has shamefully removed content created by Christians United for Israel UK to mark a peaceful Shabbat and other messages of love and support for the Jewish people, despite CUFI UK doing nothing wrong.
Facebook is refusing to reinstate the posts despite CUFI UK providing evidence to them and has enforced a temporary ban on one of its administrators.
The first post of 22 December was a simple image that said “Shabbat Shalom” and wished Jews around the world a peaceful Shabbat. The second image, posted on 31 December, depicted a Jewish child wearing a kippah and draped in the Israeli flag. The image had the words, “God bless the Jewish people” on it. This was also removed by Facebook.
CUFI UK’s Facebook page has over 126,000 followers. It is one of the largest UK Christian pages on Facebook and has been raising Christian support for Israel, sharing Bible verses, and challenging antisemitism, since 2015.
Facebook removed the images after receiving complaints from suspicious overseas accounts, claiming falsely that the two images had breached copyright. However, both images were made and owned by CUFI. The images remain on Instagram and other platforms. Despite CUFI UK providing Facebook with documentation to prove it hasn’t breached its rules. Facebook has refused to reinstate the removed posts. Instead, Facebook went further and banned one of CUFI UK’s administrators for three days.
Des Starritt, executive director of CUFI UK said, “CUFI UK has been challenging antisemitism for years on Facebook and we are regularly targeted by antisemites who abuse, threaten, and make false claims against us. This latest incident appears to be a targeted attempt by antisemites to silence Christian support for Israel. Shamefully, Facebook has sided with the antisemites and silenced Christian love towards Jews.”
This is an ongoing issue as CUFI UK has now got strikes against our account through no fault of our own. This could affect our reach as an organisation and hinder our important message. We will be challenging this further.
