Israeli minister looks to tackle online incitement

Israel’s public security minister has set his sights on introducing legislation to tackle incitement on the internet.

Gilad Erdan was speaking in London during a trip in which he held talks with the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid and Baroness Shields, the internet safety minister.

He said the “burden of responsibility” should be on the Internet companies.

Erdan, who is also strategic affairs minister, acknowledged the limitations of countries tackling hate alone given that content can be posted anywhere in the world, and suggested countries and interested parties working together can help to solve “a global problem”.

“They (Internet companies) say terror and incitement is hard to define,” he told reporters. “We should work together and define red lines.”

Facebook follows what a user likes and has more information on individuals than government, he suggested. He said it’s “naive” for the likes of Facebook or Twitter to say they have too many accounts to follow when they could hone in on new accounts.

He suggested that it requires threats of “legislation or regulation” to bring change.

His visit also focuses on the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel, which he said Britain was at the “world centre” of.

Speaking to a leadership training session run by the Union of Jewish Students last week, he said the road to peace “is paved only with diplomacy and dialogue, not isolation. Solutions come from engagement and effort, not hate and hostility… Boycotts make peace less likely, not more”.