UPDATED — 3:57 pm ET:
The internet erupted Friday when The Times of Israel published an inflammatory story in its Ops & Blogs section titled "When Genocide Is Permissible."
It's Friday on the Internet
Around two hours after the story went up, the website removed the article. The blogger who wrote the piece, Yochanan Gordon, also posted the full text to his Facebook page.
The Times of Israel later released a statement calling the blog "a blatant breach of editorial guidelines."
The Times of Israel on Friday removed an unacceptable blog post, entitled "When genocide is permissible."
This blog post, which was described by our Ops & Blogs editor as both damnable and ignorant, blatantly breached The Times of Israel's editorial guidelines.
We have discontinued the writer's blog.
The Times of Israel maintains an open blog platform: Once we have accepted bloggers, we allow them to post their own items. This trust has rarely been abused. We are angry and appalled that it was in this case, and will take steps to prevent a recurrence.
We will not countenance blog posts that incite to violence or criminal acts.
“The blog post, which was both damnable and ignorant, was uploaded by a blogger,” Ops & Blogs Editor Miriam Herschlag told JTA in an email. “It was removed by the Times of Israel for breaching our editorial guidelines. The blog has been discontinued."
The piece, justifying genocide in Gaza, elicited unmitigated outrage.
Dear @Twitter, Please review account of @ygordon5t. Free speech stops at public incitement to genocide, which is against international law.
The Times of Israel is a news website comprised mainly of bloggers who write about Israel and the Jewish world. Bloggers can contribute to. On the bottom of the op-ed page the website notes, "The opinions, facts and any media content here are presented solely by the author, and The Times of Israel assumes no responsibility for them," and provides a link for readers to report abuse.
In a letter explaining its mission, founder David Horovitz wrote:
Our Ops & Blogs section – our "marketplace of ideas" – is already attracting a colorful cast of writers on a remarkable range of themes – from flip to existential. Diversity is the key. Access to a diverse range of argument is critical to the understanding of Israel's challenges and choices.
"Fostering constructive debate" was one of the site's missions, Horovitz wrote.