Turkey’s communications authority blocked access to the social media platform Instagram on Friday, the latest instance of a clampdown on websites in the country.

The Information and Communication Technologies Authority, which regulates the internet, announced the decision early Friday but did not provide a reason.

Yeni Safak newspaper, which is close to the government, and other media said access was blocked in response to Instagram removing posts by Turkish users that expressed condolences over the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.

Unlike its Western allies, Turkey does not consider Hamas to be a terror organization. A strong critic of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, Erdogan has described the group as “liberation fighters.”

  • @steventhedev
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    -15 months ago

    A process that has been criticized by many specifically because it ignores and undermines Israeli efforts to prosecute war crimes committed by its own. It violates the principle of complementarity, so there’s a decent chance the request for warrants will be dismissed without prejudice on those grounds alone.

    I personally believe the request was made to appease the Muslim world as the others in that request are Deif, Haniyeh, and Sinwar. Those warrants will likely be granted, given that the State of Palestine (signatory to the Rome Statutes and the reason for jurisdiction) clearly lacks the ability or willingness to hold them or their organization responsible for their actions.

    • @[email protected]
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      15 months ago

      Stop spreading war crime propaganda.

      Israel has every ability to prosecute its own citizens living inside its own borders. It is not undermined by the ICC arrest warrant. Switching offender and victim of course is a typical Israeli propaganda strategy. The ICC acts because Israel chooses not to act. And the ICC does not appease anyone, as can been seen with the vile attacks now being thrown at it by the US and other Israeli allies. Also the Mossad was harassing ICC members for close to a decade now to prevent them for prosecuting Israeli war crimes.