Facebook Deletes Netanyahu’s Post

Misbar's investigation found the news circulating claim true. Facebook deleted the Israeli Prime Minister’s post on his account citing a privacy policy violation.  The post read "if you have friends or family members aged 60 or over who have not yet been vaccinated, you can write a response here with their name and phone number, and I may call to convince them!". Netanyahu also had a Messenger chatbot that had been sending private messages to followers, asking them to provide personal details of people aged 60 and over who have not yet been vaccinated against COVID-19, adding that the Prime Minister will then persuade them to get vaccinated. Facebook said that their privacy policy does not permit content that shares or requests people's medical information and therefore removed the offending post and temporarily suspended the Messenger bot.

Responding to the decisions, Netanyahu’s Likud party released a statement that the only aim of the post was "to encourage Israelis over the age of 60 to get vaccinated in order to save their lives after Prime Minister Netanyahu brought vaccines to every Israeli citizen." They further called on everyone to get vaccinated so that they may open up their economy and be the first to emerge from the pandemic. Netanyahu who is up for elections in March for the fourth time in two years is using his vaccination program as the main message for his re-election campaign. This comes despite international pressures and outcries, that the inoculation campaigns exclude Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, which is a violation of international law that states occupying power must provide its occupants with vaccines.