I had a curious email from Twitter yesterday.

Twitter is required by German law to provide notice to users who are reported by people from Germany via the Network Enforcement Act reporting flow.

We have received a complaint regarding your account, @MidWalesMike, for the following content:

@xxxxxxxxxxxx @xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx @EmmaWatson Right-wing apartheid-supporting Israelis. While there’s nothing wrong with your description, it’s Israel & it’s Zionism that’s the problem so better to put pressure there.

We have investigated the reported content and have found that it is not subject to removal under the Twitter Rules (https://support.twitter.com/articles/18311) or German law.

Interesting, isn’t it?

I had been responding to a tweet by Israel’s former ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, attacking actress, UN Women’s Goodwill Ambassador and international treasure Emma Watson for daring to show support for the people of Palestine:

(Some might argue that “solidarity” isn’t a verb but the intention behind the statement is clearly about the act of showing solidarity with a cause, or a people who are oppressed. I’m happy to clear that up here and now.)

Danon’s attempt at wit backfired massively, provoking outrage in the wider community. Here’s just one example.

This Writer was among those who responded with support for the actress and goodwill ambassador: “Let’s have some #solidarity with @EmmaWatson who is NOT an anti-Semite for supporting the people of Palestine in their struggle to survive persecution by a hostile invading state,” I tweeted.

One fellow Twitter user then responded: “I’ve reported him to twitter, we all should! I’m so fed up with these right wing apartheid supporting Jews who think they can get away with anything and never look at their own behaviour!”

While I agreed with the sentiment fueling the decision to report Danon, I felt it necessary to point out that the comment was open to misinterpretation by the people and groups that have been making false accusations of anti-Semitism for the past six years or more. So I wrote the tweet forming the basis of the apparent complaint to Twitter.

I then received a comment from a user in Germany, which I can’t reproduce here because it has mysteriously disappeared!

If I recall correctly, it expressed discomfort with my observation that Israel and Zionism were harmful to Palestinians.

Next thing I knew, I received the email from Twitter.

You may be wondering why I am writing about any of this.

I’ll tell you.

It seems to me that, with 28 million followers on Twitter, Emma Watson isn’t going to be particularly bothered by some lame denunciation from a has-been politico. And this multi-millionaire movie star certainly has the cash to see off any legal challenge to her comments.

So it seems to me that this attempt to attack me was, for the anti-Semitism scammers (see #ItWasAScam on Twitter), the next-best thing: attack her supporters and have them silenced.

Didn’t work though, did it?

But now I wonder how many other people were treated a similar way.

And how does Emma Watson feel about anyone being attacked, just for supporting her?

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/

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