Israel’s parliament approved ​​​​​​ a bill that would allow authorities to remove certain posts supporting illegal activities from social media at a preliminary reading Dec. 8. During the stormy Knesset debate, Opposition Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu banged on the table and hissed, “I want to tell you how absurd and dangerous this is. Have you forgotten that we are a democracy? This is terribly dangerous.”

“It’s a law to shut up those of us Right-wingers,” added Religious Zionist Chairman Bezalel Smotrich. “First you took control of most of Israel’s institutionalized media, now you want to become the censors of the social networks — which is the only place that the Right, the state’s National Zionist camp, can express itself freely — now you want to stifle this too. … You’ll label everything we say as incitement or violence.” 

Knesset member Meir Yitzhak Halevi, who submitted the bill, leads the lobby for eradicating violence in the social networks. He is also a member of New Hope party, established by Justice Minister Gideon Saar, who is one of Netanyahu’s bitter enemies. This fact, of course, added to the sense of persecution of the former prime minister and of the entire right-wing camp.

The legislation, nicknamed “the Facebook law,” is a new version of a bill that Netanyahu blocked in 2018 when he was prime minister. Two of his ministers at the time submitted it: then-Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and then-Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan. Netanyahu argued that the bill impeded free speech, and was able to block it due to his control of the political system.