YouTube secretly removes hundreds of videos documenting Israeli war crimes in Gaza – Culture
Big Tech giants such as Google, Microsoft, and Amazon have long been in the spotlight for their complicity in Israel’s war on Gaza. Now, another internet mainstay joins that list — YouTube.
According to a report by The Intercept published on November 4, the Google-owned platform covertly took down more than 700 videos documenting Israeli violence by removing the accounts of three major Palestinian human rights organisations — a move that followed sanctions imposed by the Trump administration.
The three organisations — Al-Haq, Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights — had all submitted evidence to the International Criminal Court, which later issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for crimes against humanity in Gaza, Al Jazeera reported.
In early October, following the ICC’s decision, the Trump administration escalated its defence of Israel by sanctioning ICC officials and targeting those working with the court.
“It is outrageous that YouTube is furthering the Trump administration’s agenda to remove evidence of human rights violations and war crimes from public view,” said Katherine Gallagher, a senior staff attorney at the Centre for Constitutional Rights, in a statement to The Intercept.
The removals wiped out hundreds of videos — from investigations into the Israeli killing of American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, to testimonies of Palestinians tortured by Israeli forces, and documentaries such as The Beach, which told the story of children killed by an Israeli airstrike while playing on the shore — according to the report.
A spokesperson for Al-Haq told The Intercept that the organisation’s YouTube channel was deleted on October 3. “YouTube’s removal of a human rights organisation’s platform, carried out without prior warning, represents a serious failure of principle and an alarming setback for human rights and freedom of expression,” the spokesperson said.
Basel al-Sourani, an international advocacy officer and legal advisor for the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), added: “By doing this, YouTube is being complicit in silencing the voices of Palestinian victims.”
“Google is committed to compliance with applicable sanctions and trade compliance laws,” YouTube spokesperson Boot Bullwinkle told The Intercept, confirming that the videos had been deleted.
According to the report, the removals only affected the groups’ official accounts, and while some archived copies of the deleted videos survive on platforms such as Facebook, Vimeo, and the Wayback Machine, there is no comprehensive record of what was erased — leaving much of the visual evidence lost to the internet.
