Organization says community member violated Expected Standards of Behavior.
ICANN is debating what to do after someone deeply entrenched in the domain name ecosystem made highly controversial remarks about Jews.
The issue came to light after ICANN community member Jeffrey Neuman sent a letter (pdf) (and follow up) highlighting comments made by Talal Abu-Ghazaleh. In a TV interview, Abu-Ghazaleh stated:
The Jews do not have any ideology. All they care about is money and interests. I had a friend who was a German cabinet member. I once asked him: ‘When Hitler, may God forgive him, carried out the Holocaust, why didn’t he finish the job and kill all the Jews?’ He said to me: ‘It’s the other way around, but don’t tell anyone I said this. He left a group of them on purpose, so that people would know why we carried out the Holocaust. When you would be tormented by them, you would know the reason.
Abu-Ghazaleh is a well-known intellectual property practitioner and founder of the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAG-Org). He has several interests connected to ICANN:
- TAG-Org hosts an instance of ICANN’s L Root in Jordan
- Two non-profits Abu Ghazaleh chairs formed the UDRP provider Arab Center for Dispute Resolution in Intellectual Property
- He is affiliated with the ICANN-accredited registrar TAG-Domains
- His law firm represents Complainants in UDRPs (and has a rather poor record)
In a response (pdf) to Neuman on December 26, ICANN interim CEO Sally Costerton called Abu-Ghazaleh’s comments “beyond offensive or objectionable” and that “We want to make it absolutely clear that hate speech has no place in ICANN’s multistakeholder process, and that Talal Abu Ghazaleh’s statements violate ICANN’s Expected Standards of Behavior.”
Costerton said that ICANN is trying to figure out how it can respond using ICANN’s policies and processes. ICANN has contacted Talal Abu-Ghazaleh and TAG-Org to inform them that the comments violate ICANN’s Expected Standards of Behavior and has referred the matter to ICANN’s Office of the Ombuds.
Fred Kauber says
His comments are despicable and reveal more about his ideology than those he targeted with his hate speech. That anyone would think, let alone publicly utter, such bile is grounds enough to question his judgement in any matter. This will be a test of ICANN’s mettle if they have any hope of representing our community with integrity.
Alex Neumann says
Yes his speech despicable, but any comments on the genocide committed by Israel against the Palestinian people? Your selective outrage reveals more about your ideology than those targeted by your bias.
Fred Kauber says
My selective outrage? You mean that I addressed the topic at hand, rather than using this as a springboard to twist the focus from his reprehensible comments to other difficult and sensitive events of the day? I’ll leave that to you, and I’ll stick to commenting on the advocate of the Holocaust who has interests and influence in our industry, which was the topic of the article. This is a platform for domain-related matters, not geopolitical debate.
domainnamewire8q4ib says
Yes, your selective outrage, since you didn’t actually adequately address the topic at hand – those comments were not made in a vacuum, they are the direct result of an outrage caused by an ongoing genocide committed by Israel. It’s also bizarre that you claim this not to be a geopolitical debate when the author of the quoted PDF in the article didn’t miss any chance to conflate hate against Jews with hate of an apartheid ethno-state, turning it into a geopolitical debate.
Stephen Masterson says
If the roles were reversed, even you would realise that Hamas would massacre every single Jew in Israel. Israel have shown absolute restraint to the disgusting and sub-human atrocities that your friends in Hamas committed on the Israeli people. Not to mention the young Jewish girls in Gaza currently being gang raped to death by these disgusting animals.
If ICANN does anything less than sever all ties with this virulent anti-semite, they are tacitly endorsing his despicable views. If Hamas choose to embed themselves in the civilian population, what are the IDF expected to do? Give them a pass.
99% of the area of the Middle East is occupied by hateful Muslim nations. Israel is occupying Israel, as it has done for thousands of years. And people like you think that Israel doesn’t even deserve their tiny piece of land? Why is that not a single other Arab nation won’t touch the militant Palestinian people with a bargepole?
Jon Frey says
His comments are totally reprehensible and inexcusable. There’s only one possible response – You MUST set an example and he MUST be punished to the harshest possible extent – KICK HIM OUT IMMEDIATELY!!
Warren Royal says
Oh my gosh, that is horrific. That is the most awful hate speech that I have ever heard. He has no business in this (or any other) industry. ICANN must disassociate itself from him completely and immediately.
Alex Neumann says
There is no such thing as “hatespeech” only speech that you don’t like.
Alex Neumann says
Yes, your selective outrage, since you didn’t actually adequately address the topic at hand – those comments were not made in a vacuum, they are the direct result of an outrage caused by an ongoing genocide committed by Israel against the Palestinian people as we speak. It’s also bizarre that you claim this not to be a geopolitical debate when the author of the quoted PDF in the article didn’t miss any chance to conflate hate against Jews with hate of an apartheid ethno-state.
Adequately addressing it without selective outrage would be something along the lines of:
“I understand that emotions are running high right now and we’re all outraged by Israel’s seemingly never ending genocide against the Palestinian people, but it’s unacceptable to blame jews for the actions of Israel. Understand that Israel does not represent Jewry and conflating Israel and Jews is antisemitic. Please be constructive and do not fuel the fire with more hate.”
Fred Kauber says
Thank you for informing the commenters on this thread as to what they should have said, which of course is your opinion and you are entitled to it. My comment stands as offered; it is unacceptable to advocate for the genocide of any people for any reason, and someone that does so should not be entrusted with any signal of legitimacy by the governing organization of our industry. For the record since you’ve introduced the topic, I sympathize with both the Palestinian and Israeli people that have suffered from the longstanding conflicts in that region, and I hope they can find a path to lasting peace.