YouTube has deleted more than 700 videos that highlighted human rights violations in Gaza, including Israeli offenses and alleged genocide. The videos, which were shared by prominent Palestinian rights organizations such as Al-Haq, Al Mezan Central for Human Rights, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, depicted the devastation faced by Palestinian civilians during the ongoing conflict.
The removal of these videos follows a campaign by the U.S. government to prevent accountability for Israeli actions in Gaza and the West Bank. Despite the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over crimes against humanity in Gaza, YouTube, owned by Google, cited U.S. trade and sanctions laws as the reason for its actions.
According to a YouTube spokesperson, the platform is committed to complying with U.S. sanctions and trade laws, which led to the suspension of the videos and the accounts associated with the Palestinian organizations.
Human rights advocates have condemned the move, arguing that YouTube’s actions serve to conceal evidence of war crimes from the public. Katherine Gallagher, a senior attorney at the Centre for Constitutional Rights, criticized the platform for furthering the U.S. administration’s agenda of silencing coverage of human rights abuses in the region.
One of the affected organizations, Al-Haq, reported that its YouTube channel was terminated without warning, calling it a serious violation of the platform’s own policies. The deletion of these videos has sparked widespread concern about the role of tech companies in censoring content related to the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
