Meta: Zionist leader has 48 hours to back down or we will sue

A bitter clash between Meta and a prominent Israeli-American leader of the Betar movement is heating up, with the social media giant threatening to take the fight to court.

At the heart of the dispute are allegations that the Betar official harassed Meta's employees after the company shut down two Instagram accounts. Meta says the official crossed a line by posting the personal contact details of its Israel policy chief, Jordana Cutler, on social media and flooding her inbox with confrontational messages.

Through its lawyers at Herzog Fox & Neeman, Meta claims the official didn't stop at emails. They say he threatened to stage protests at Cutler's office and demanded she step down from her position, sharing these communications with public figures and posting Cutler's email address on X (formerly Twitter) - apparently hoping others would join in.

Meta's demands are straightforward: stop the harassment, scrub their employees' personal information from the internet, and confirm it's done within 48 hours. The company made it clear that its Israeli staff don't handle Instagram complaints and warned of legal consequences if their demands aren't met.

Betar's leadership fired back, accusing Meta of playing favorites with its rules. They argue the platform treats pro-Zionist content differently from other posts and claim they've been shut out of any meaningful dialogue with the company. In a strongly worded statement, they called on Israel's government to step in, saying Zionists have "no one to talk to at Meta."

Ynet contributed to this article.