YouTube removed the channels of Al-Haq in the West Bank and Al Mezan and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza, deleting hundreds of videos documenting civilian harm and alleged Israeli war crimes.

The early October takedown followed U.S. sanctions under a Trump-era order penalizing the groups for cooperating with the International Criminal Court.

YouTube Ties Deletions to Sanctions

YouTube confirmed that it terminated the three organizations’ accounts after a sanctions review, citing Google’s policy that bars “publisher products” for entities restricted under trade and export laws.

The decision erased more than 700 videos, including investigations into the killing of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and documentation of home demolitions and torture testimonies.

Al-Haq said its channel was removed on October 3, while Al Mezan reported an abrupt termination on October 7 without prior notice.

Alarming Setback for Accountability

Al-Haq called the removal “a serious failure of principle and an alarming setback for human rights and freedom of expression,” arguing that U.S. sanctions are being used “to cripple accountability work on Palestine and silence Palestinian voices and victims.”

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights said closure of its channel “protects perpetrators from accountability” and complained that YouTube claimed community-guidelines violations where it had provided “factual and evidence-based reporting” on crimes “especially since the start of the ongoing genocide on 7 October.”

A Gaza-based Al Mezan spokesperson warned that losing the channel sharply limits its ability to reach intended audiences and fulfill its mission.

Trump Sanctions Drive Platform Censorship

After the ICC issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024, the Trump administration renewed and expanded sanctions on the court and those assisting it.

In September, it specifically sanctioned Al-Haq, Al Mezan, and PCHR, freezing U.S. assets and restricting travel for individuals, while rights lawyers secured preliminary injunctions in some cases on First Amendment grounds.

Critics say YouTube is now “furthering the Trump administration’s agenda to remove evidence of human rights violations and war crimes from public view,” and warn that sanctions are designed to make association with the groups “frightening” for Americans.

Searching for Non-U.S. Platforms

The organizations note that some deleted videos survive only in scattered form on the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine or on other platforms such as Facebook and Vimeo, with no complete public index of what has vanished.

They fear further removals because many alternative hosts are also U.S.-based and therefore exposed to the same sanctions regime.

Al-Haq says it is now actively seeking non-U.S. service providers, as YouTube’s earlier shutdown of the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association channel followed outside pressure citing State Department sanctions.

The incident underscored how easily tech firms can extend government designations into global information blackouts.