Podcast Summary: Prof. Omar Zahzah on Zionism, Silicon Valley, and Digital/Settler Colonialism in the Palestinian Liberation Movement (G&R 446)

Date: December 12, 2025
Podcast: Green & Red: Podcasts for Scrappy Radicals
Hosts: Bob Buzzanco and Scott Parkin
Guest: Prof. Omar Zahzah, Assistant Professor at San Francisco State University, writer and activist
Book Discussed: Terms of Servitude: Zionism, Silicon Valley and Digital Settler Colonialism in the Palestinian Liberation Struggle

Episode Overview

This episode delves into Prof. Omar Zahzah’s new book, Terms of Servitude, exploring the relationship between Big Tech (particularly Silicon Valley), the Israeli state, and the digital repression of Palestinian voices and activism. The conversation highlights how social media platforms have become instrumental both in amplifying and suppressing narratives of Palestinian liberation, examines direct collaborations between Big Tech and governments, discusses novel forms of digital colonialism, and situates the Palestinian struggle within a larger context of anti-colonial and anti-racist movements.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Genesis: Social Media and the 2021 Sheikh Jarrah Uprising

• Catalyst Moment: The narrative shift in 2021 during the Sheikh Jarrah expulsions highlighted the power of social media for Palestinians (01:58–06:00). Activists used platforms to globalize their struggle, similar to momentum generated by the 2020 George Floyd protests.
• Quote:
  "What was unusual about this case was that it gained so much prominence. And I think this was in large part to the skill and efficacy with which Palestinian organizers and activists really took to various forms of media to broadcast what they were going through." – Zahzah (03:30)
• Narrative Shift: Legacy media outlets themselves were forced to acknowledge and platform Palestinian stories due to viral social media content.

2. The Onset of Censorship and Digital Suppression

• Tipping Point: As Palestinian posts gained traction, mass censorship from Meta platforms (Facebook, Instagram), Twitter, etc., began targeting posts on Sheikh Jarrah, Al Aqsa, and Israeli bombing in Gaza (06:32–10:30).
• Censorship Tactics: Companies often deflected criticism by calling this “a glitch” or “an error”, yet patterns proved systematic.
• Contradiction:
  "The contradiction of these new media outlets that pride themselves... as being the alternative to censorship... are becoming the new arch censors." – Zahzah (08:50)

3. Deep State-Tech Collaboration

• Government Delegations: Facebook's 2016 delegation to Israel exemplifies direct state-company coordination about "incitement" and "terrorism" (11:15–13:10).
• Appointments: Individuals central to Israeli cyber operations joined Meta’s oversight board, deepening collaboration.
• Rights Organizations: Groups like Hamleh and Adalah documented the high acceptance rate (>95%) of Israeli government requests for takedowns of Palestinian content (12:10–13:45).
• Quote:
  "Not really very much hidden collaboration that you see between governments and these companies. And it's very clear that a lot of these decisions are being made at the direct behest of the Israeli government." – Zahzah (15:07)

4. Tech-facilitated Suppression Tactics

• Blacklists: Entities like Canary Mission and StopAntisemitism publish blacklists conflating Palestinian advocacy with antisemitism (19:10–19:50).
• Bots & Trolls: Sophisticated bots swarm Palestinian hashtags, overwhelming posts with AI-generated propaganda (19:36–21:13).
• Content Moderation Policies: Companies like Meta and Twitch embed anti-Palestinian bias by equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism in their community standards (22:17–23:53).
• Quote:
  "They... formalized this process of doing that by essentially accepting the equation of antisemitism and anti-Zionism and releasing policies that talk about how they're going to police... anti-Zionist expression on their platforms." – Zahzah (22:45)

5. The Persistence and Evolution of Resistance

• Resilience: Despite censorship campaigns, support for the Palestinian cause is greater than ever, especially among youth, with social media still serving as a powerful organizing space (25:44–29:50).
• Savvy Audiences:
  "Most users... are savvy enough to understand at this point, like, okay, if I'm not seeing something, it doesn't necessarily mean it's not there. I'm just going to have to go somewhere else and seek it out." – Zahzah (26:53)
• Visibility of War Crimes: Platforms like TikTok inadvertently serve as evidence repositories, with even Israeli soldiers live-streaming atrocities (28:28–29:10).

6. Collaboration in Direct Violence

• Tech, Data, and Assassinations: Companies like Meta (WhatsApp data), Google, Amazon, and Dell provide the Israeli government with tools, AI, and cloud storage that facilitate targeted assassinations and civilian site bombings (32:04–34:30).
• Accountability: The 2025 Francesca Albanese report categorizes Big Tech as an “entrenched partner in colonialism and genocide”, emphasizing the need for international legal accountability for tech executive complicity (34:35–36:00).
• Quote:
  "We need to be managing ourselves digitally, let alone what this means for the Palestinian struggle." – Zahzah (15:50)

7. Organizing and Leverage Within Tech

• Tech Against Apartheid: Tech workers leverage their position in companies to protest, expose, and disrupt collaboration with Israeli authorities (36:08–38:00).
• Whistleblowing & Direct Action: Employees on the inside can play a pivotal role in exposing and halting complicity in repression.
• Audience Awareness: Communities have adapted, going directly to independent news sites like Electronic Intifada and Palestine Chronicle when access via social media is restricted (29:50–31:47, 42:05–43:15).

8. Algorithms, Mass Reporting, and Erasure

• Automated Suppression: Recent instances, such as YouTube removing 700 channels, reveal reliance on algorithmic flagging as well as coordinated mass reporting by pro-Zionist groups (38:46–39:35).
• Archival Risk: The idea that the “Internet is forever” is challenged when archives of violence—potential evidence—are deleted (39:50–41:00).
• Quote:
  "All of these things are very disturbing because ... the sheer scale is so overwhelming... and now we're seeing that that's not the case." – Zahzah (41:06)

9. Global Variations and the Transnational Dimension

• European Contexts: Countries like Germany are particularly aggressive in censoring Palestinian content, with sites and accounts banned outright (44:45–46:00).
• Moderation Distinctions: European vs. U.S. moderation policies can sometimes result in different outcomes, but the trend of collaboration and suppression remains global.

10. Expanding the Model of Repression

• Broader Application: Tactics perfected on Palestine solidarity are now used against anti-ICE and anti-fascist activists, consolidating the state’s ability to suppress dissenting grassroots movements (46:48–48:50).
• Intersectionality:
  "All of these causes need to be navigated in an interconnected way because ultimately they are interconnected struggles." – Zahzah (48:03)

Notable Quotes & Moments with Timestamps

• On the impact of social media activism:
  "You start to see Palestinians from all over basically... reaffirming this idea that Palestine is an anti-colonial struggle that connects all Palestinians wherever they are..." (05:12)

• On direct actions by tech workers:
  "It's the intersection of this opposition to tech for genocide as well as labor struggles coming together in one. I think that that's really one of the most potent points of leverage." (36:25)

• On the permanence and impermanence of digital archives:
  "For a long time we've had this adage that the Internet is forever. And now we're seeing that that's not the case." (41:06)

Important Timestamps

• Beginnings of tech censorship in Palestine: 01:58–10:53
• Big Tech & government collaboration: 11:15–16:26
• Solidarity movements, resurgence of internationalism: 17:09–18:48
• Details of digital censorship tactics: 19:10–25:44
• Paradox: Growing support for Palestine despite censorship: 25:44–32:04
• Tech's direct complicity in military action: 32:04–35:48
• Worker organizing and whistleblowing: 36:08–38:46
• Algorithmic and mass-reporting censorship: 38:46–41:39
• Impact on pro-Palestine media sites: 42:05–44:25
• International (esp. European) trends: 44:25–46:48
• Generalizing the model of repression: 46:48–49:46
• Book details and wrap-up: 49:48–50:52

Conclusion

Professor Omar Zahzah’s analysis maps out a new digital frontier of settler colonialism, driven by the synergy between Big Tech and state actors. While these platforms are weaponized to suppress, erase, and criminalize Palestinian voices and solidarity movements, activists and organizers have adapted and developed new forms of digital resilience and solidarity. The episode sets forth an urgent call to recognize the complicity of the tech industry in modern colonialism and genocide, while highlighting possibilities for resistance both inside and outside these entrenched systems.

Book Information

Title: Terms of Servitude: Zionism, Silicon Valley and Digital Settler Colonialism in the Palestinian Liberation Struggle
Authors: Prof. Omar Zahzah
Publishers: The Censored Press and Seven Stories Press
Purchase links: Available on both publishers' websites

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