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Source: Weekly e-mail newsletter NIF News – December 27, 2004 New Israel Fund 1101 14th Street NW, Sixth Floor Washington, DC 20005-5639 (202) 842-0900 www.nif.org
Kicking Jewish Racism Off The Internet
Israel has sent a clear message that racism on the Internet is unacceptable. The Jerusalem District Court has ordered the "Hebrew Work" website to be removed from the Internet following a petition by NIF grantees Mossawa Center and Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC). The website, which was set up over two years ago by private entrepreneur Adi Ginzburg, set out to promote businesses that employed only Jews and purchased only from other Jewish companies. Employers could advertise for Jewish employees and, among other items on the website, was an article linking the employment of Arabs to terrorism.
Einat Hurwitz, an NIF Law Fellow and the attorney representing IRAC, said after the verdict, "We are very satisfied that this racist and discriminatory website has been removed. This is an important victory in the battle against racism in general and on the Internet in particular." As part of the verdict the site’s operator was forced to issue an apology. Following the ruling the site now says, "The managers and workers of the Avoda Ivrit website apologize for hurting feelings of human dignity or any damage that might have been caused to a person or the public from advertisements on the site."
My comment: Problems must be worked on from both sides.
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