A BBC investigation reveals that Microsoft is permanently banning Palestinians in the U.S. and other countries who use Skype to call relatives in Gaza.

Reportedly, Microsoft has been banning and wiping the accounts of users who have leveraged Skype to contact relatives in Gaza. In some cases, email accounts over a decade old have been locked, destroying access to banking accounts, OneDrive storage, and beyond.

United States resident Salah Elsadi lost his account of over 15 years in the dragnet. “I’ve had this Hotmail for 15 years. They banned me for no reason, saying I have violated their terms — what terms? Tell me. I’ve filled out about 50 forms and called them many many times.” Eiad Hametto from Saudi Arabia echoed the report, “We are civilians with no political background who just wanted to check on our families. They’ve suspended my email account that I’ve had for nearly 20 years. It was connected to all my work. They killed my life online.”

Many of the users affected by the bans expressed that Microsoft may be falsely labelling them as Hamas

  • @Billy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    4 months ago

    So Palestinians are Hamas?
    Why is Iran not helping Fatah?
    Their support of Hamas is on ideological grounds. Israel is holy waqf land that belongs to Muslims and should be cleansed from Jews.

    Even when Egypt had sovereignty over Gaza they made sure to prevent Palestinians from going to Egypt.

    Tunnels from Lebanon… to Gaza…? Where’d you read that?
    Hezbollah begun bombing Israel in support of Hamas. They’re also funded by Iran (much more than Hamas though).
    Meanwhile Palestinians live in camps in Lebanon. Some of those walled and surrounded by watchtowers.
    They have less rights there than anyone else (including refugees and migrant workers), despite living there for 3 generations at this point.

    Turkey under Erdogan has been mostly hosting Hamas leaders while bombing Kurds in Syria.

    I don’t think much needs to be said about Assad.

    The only country in the area which actually helped Palestinians was Jordan. Although that also changed for a while after Black September.

    Most of UNRWA’s funding over the years has come from the EU and USA.

    • @UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Israel is holy waqf land that belongs to Muslims and should be cleansed from Jews.

      That’s crazy because I’ve heard Israelis assert the exact opposite.

      Most of UNRWA’s funding over the years has come from the EU and USA.

      There’s a certain dramatic irony in funding UNRWA, paying Israel to bomb UNRWA, and then claiming you’re the only folks providing aid to Palestinians.

      • @Billy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        -14 months ago

        That’s crazy because I’ve heard Israelis assert the exact opposite.

        Yes, religious extremists exist also in Israel.

        There’s a certain dramatic irony in funding UNRWA, paying Israel to bomb UNRWA, and then claiming you’re the only folks providing aid to Palestinians.

        I’m not the one who wrote USA is the only one providing aid.
        What you quoted is the reality. The bulk of the funding over the years has been from the USA and the EU.