Twitter has suspended the account of Hamas, the Palestinian group opposing Israel and its military forces in the region, according to a message posted by the group on its Qassam website.
Hamas' @qassambrigade account, which was the second one created by the group, was suspended Thursday. The first account, @alqassambrigade, was removed on Jan. 9.
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“The suspension of al-Qassam account by Twitter exposes the ‘unprofessional’ policy of the latest, and the total ‘bias’ to the Israeli occupation and real terrorism in the world,” the message on the website said. “Moreover, Twitter seems subordinated to the American- pro-Israel organizations supporting terror against Palestinian people.”
For its part, the Israel Israel Defense Force used its Twitter account to highlight the suspension of the first Hamas account:
#Twitter has suspended the official account of #Hamas, a terrorist group that uses social media to threaten #Israel http://t.co/g1UxKc9fpf
— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) January 14, 2014
On its official website, the IDF wrote the following:
Because Hamas is designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) under s219 of the USA’s Immigration Act, it is thereby “barred from receiving services under the laws of the United States”. By using Twitter, a company based in the U.S., Hamas was indeed violating the company’s Terms of Service.
When asked to comment, Twitter did not offer a specific reason for suspending the Hamas accounts.
"We do not comment on individual accounts, for privacy and security reasons," a Twitter spokesperson told Mashable, citing the company's rules and regulations, which include guidelines prohibiting threats of violence on the site.

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