Facebook temporarily locked down Itamar Ben-Gvir’s account on Wednesday, claiming the Otzma Yehudit party member had repeatedly violated the terms of service on the social media site.
But the trigger for the ban, apparently, was a photo of party leaders with the slogan, “100 dead terrorists, but not a single hair will fall from the heads of IDF soldiers.”
A number of other posts by Ben-Gvir had also allegedly been reported – likely by leftist users hoping to knock the right-winger off Facebook in the week before Israeli elections.
And they succeeded – but not for long.
Ben-Gvir slammed the move and immediately filed a petition with the Central Elections Committee, warning that he was about to sue Facebook “for millions.”
He vowed not to let the situation continue, saying Facebook would not silence rightists “while they do nothing about terrorists.”
In less than a day, Deputy Supreme Court Chief Justice Hanan Meltzer ordered Facebook to respond to the petition filed by “the candidate” by 5 pm, explaining why Ben-Gvir’s account was blocked.
By the end of the day, Ben-Gvir’s account was reportedly back in service.