Global Voices has discussed the issue of censorship on Facebook and YouTube, particularly as it relates to the current Israeli attacks on Gaza. Today, however, it was discovered by a Global Voices reader that several “pro-Gaza” Facebook groups have been hacked, apparently by the Jewish Internet Defense Force (JIDF), the same group mentioned in our previous article. A portion of the group's about page reads:

We are a non-violent protest group who share concerns about antisemitic online content, as well as content which promotes terrorism on sites including Facebook, YouTube, Wikipedia, Google Earth, Blogger, and other sites and forums throughout the internet. The JIDF believes in direct action both to eradicate the problems we face online and to create the publicity that will cause those with the power (companies like Facebook and Google) to take the needed action themselves.

While one reader of our previous article claimed that JIDF is not pro-censorship…

Get it straight. The JIDF is not pro-censorship. They are for people abiding by ISP rules. There are very clear rules against the promotion of hatred and violence in places like YouTube and Facebook. Trying to have those rules enforced is hardly censorship. Your value judgment and misunderstanding of the JIDF is wrong.

…We were surprised to discover that members of the organization are allegedly behind this Facebook group hack:

That screenshot was taken at approximately 14:00 EST. Less than an hour later, the group was restored, with a new image reflecting their frustration at the hack:

Yet another group remains hacked:

The description of the group has been changed to say:

Closed. Due to fact that Palestine is not a country. All you have is a mucky flag and a terrorist government.

So far the JIDF has not responded to queries via e-mail or Twitter, though a friend of the group informally told me that the hacks were done by JIDF fans, not members.

EDIT, 16:20 EST:

The JIDF has responded on Twitter: