Policy analysis: Towards effective national policies against hate speech in Palestine
The paper sets out the policy problem of hate speech and its drivers — occupation, political division and social culture — alongside weak technology ethics and the absence of a clear legal definition of hate speech in Palestinian law.
- Author
- The editorial team
- Date
- 2023-05-31
The paper set out the policy problem and its causes, centred on the Israeli occupation, the political division, and the society's culture — in addition to the weakness of the ethics of technology use, and the lack of clear labelling of hate speech in Palestinian society, despite a set of laws and presidential decrees that partially address some faces of hate speech, such as violence, defamation, and incitement, without defining them directly as hate speech.
The paper traced the policy problem using the tools and standards for measuring hate speech set by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and documented the chief political and social factors driving the escalation of hate speech in Palestinian society and the peak periods of its spread.
The paper offered three complementary policy alternatives. The first: raising awareness of the danger of hate speech, which requires an integrated, sustainable working system, education through social media, and the monitoring and reporting of hate speech. The second: a comprehensive programmatic plan, “hate speech is everyone's responsibility”, offering sub-policies for official and unofficial institutions and the private sector alike. The third: creating a dedicated national manual on hate speech through which the legislation and executive regulations on hate speech are drawn, its promoters criminalised, and deterrent legal measures taken against them.
