From Ynet News, 29/8/07, by Eldad Beck:
German TV network reports anti-Semitic clips flooding site, being viewed by hundreds of thousands of surfers
The popular video sharing website YouTube has been flooded in recent months by anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi videos that have been viewed by hundreds of thousands of surfers, an investigative report broadcast by German national television network ARD revealed this week.
These clips include scenes from the anti-Semitic film The Jew Süss, which was filmed in 1940 under Joseph Goebbels' supervision; videos of neo-Nazi rock bands hailing the SS and the Ku Klux Klan; and footage from rallies calling for a "white revolution" or the reinstatement of the Nazi regime.
Furthermore, the German neo-Nazi party has until recently been taking advantage of the YouTube platform to broadcast its own alternative, anti-Semitic news edition.
The report aroused much concern and outrage among Germany's Jewish community. "I expect the General Prosecution, the authorities and the federal government to act decisively against this phenomenon," said vice president of the Jewish community Salomon Korn.
Some German Jews are also contemplating filing a lawsuit against the site.
The German Interior Ministry published a statement encouraging people to file lawsuits against YouTube, in a bid to try and fight the phenomenon. However, the ministry's spokesman said that in the absence of international cooperation on the issue of neo-Nazi propaganda on the internet, it would be very hard to combat it in Germany.
Google, which owns YouTube, stated that it advocated free speech and the right of every individual to express unpopular opinions. However, it said that it forbade slurs and "malicious use of stereotypes designed to attack or humiliate gender, sexual tendency, race, religion or nationality," and pledged to look into the videos in question.
Roee Shlomi contributed to the report
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