Elia Ayoub (he/him)Nov 22, 2024

I’m being told that the largest Mastodon instance - mastodon.social - is now hiding my profile.

One person telling me it’s because of German obsession with making up antisemitism where there is none.

Anyone who knows my work knows that I platform critical Jewish voices. My MA thesis was on Yiddish & Hebrew, I do memory studies which incl Holocaust studies, and I am co-producing a Jewish podcast by three radical Jews. I’m also a writer for 972mag.

So what’s up Mastodon? Am I too Arab for you?

Show threadLibbyNov 22, 2024
@ayoub The German authorities, and a whole lot of Germans, even some calling themselves antifascist, have a very twisted image of the post WWII world. And of the past I might add. They focus on one thing, ignoring all other Nazi victims, or even damaging their memory over and over, and are blind to what happens in the world today. It's almost funny to see a German so called antifa interact with anti Zionist Israelis, (or with me for that matter) they cannot find their baring.
Show threadElia Ayoub (he/him)Nov 22, 2024
@Libby_ yeah I complain about that on this site too, but what I want from this specifically is for the mod(s) who made that decision to clearly state why. If I broke a German law I want to know which post(s) did that. Otherwise I’ll have to conclude it’s because of my background.
Show threadNachtherz

@ayoub @Libby_
It's basically because >any< criticism is antisemitism (hm, I guess the concept of Nibelungentreue might fit well), even if you are jewish yourself. You can see the effect of it in german/dach-region spaces like r/de quite well, where accusations of being pro-Hamas or antisemitic get thrown around quickly on related topics.

I only got german sources, but:
News with example: https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/antisemitismus-resolution-bundestag-israel-meinung-100.html
which referes to this: https://www.bundestag.de/presse/hib/kurzmeldungen-1028310
Hope that helps ^^

Antisemitismus-Resolution: Der Bundestag ist auf einem Irrweg

Die Antisemitismus-Resolution, ist für zahlreiche Israelis ein Hohn. Kritik am Handeln der israelischen Regierung soll als antisemitisch gebrandmarkt werden.

Deutschlandfunk
Nov 22, 2024 at 9:44amWeb
Show threadkarlggestNov 23, 2024
@Nachtherz
But respect to mastodon.social it's an invent.
@ayoub @Libby_
Show threadLibbyNov 23, 2024
@karlggestd @Nachtherz @ayoub you are correct in that. But, if you are forced to make decisions based on, what can in the least be considered dodgy legislation (and no, we don't want the Linksunten Indymedia scenario to happen to mastodon.social) you owe your users - who might not be familiar with the restrictive German anti-leftist, repressive (mis)use of anti-nazi legislation - an explanation as to why you are forced to block them. Preferably individually, or at least in a public statement.
Show threadkarlggestNov 23, 2024
@Libby_ @Nachtherz @ayoub But that's not the case. Even if it was true that it was not accessible for a handful of hours because it was under moderation, a simple search on mastodon.social is enough to find out whether that topic of conversation is being avoided or not. It's pretty simple.
Show threadLibbyNov 23, 2024
@karlggestd @Nachtherz @ayoub Good to see you elaborate a little on your previous post. It lacked a bit of context. We didn't know what you know. And it seems the account was indeed under moderation for a while without providing an explanation. I understand it is a tough job, and very time consuming, so yes, respect for the mods. But it is stressful for people on the other end if accounts gets suspended, even if only temporarily, for assessment reasons, without explanation.
Show threadkarlggestNov 23, 2024

@Libby_
Because he is not from mastodon.social. Different instances has different rules, that's the idea.

And that's in the case that was true.
@Nachtherz @ayoub

Show threadLibbyNov 23, 2024
@karlggestd @Nachtherz @ayoub Ah, OK, I get that. I suppose that would require too much work. Still get the stress it causes too, but I guess we will have to live with that. Thanks.
Show threadkarlggestNov 23, 2024
@Libby_
As you want.
@Nachtherz @ayoub