Israeli Haaretz newspaper reported on Sunday that Israeli Police mistakenly arrested a Palestinian worker last week because they relied on automatic translation software to translate a post he wrote on his Facebook page.
The Palestinian man was arrested after writing “good morning” which was misinterpreted. The Facebook post mistranslated ‘good morning’ to “slaughter them”.
Last week the man posted on his Facebook page a picture from the construction site where he works in the West Bank settlement of Beitar Ilit near Occupied Jerusalem. In the picture he is leaning against a bulldozer alongside the caption: “Good morning” in Arabic.
The automatic translation service offered by Facebook translated “good morning” as “attack them” in Hebrew and “hurt them” in English Haaretz stated.
Israeli occupation authorities set a law that legitimizes arresting social media activists. Since the beginning of the year Israeli forces rounded up hundreds of Palestinians at the pretext of incitement over Facebook based on mere suspicion.
