Activist claims Twitch ban was for speaking on Israel-Palestine conflict

A Morrocan Twitch streamer and activist, Marouane A. Lamharzi, claims he was banned from the streaming platform after speaking out on the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

The streamer claimed his channel was banned for 30 days for "Targeted Hateful Conduct". The activist was left confused because of his work combating hate speech in Morocco, assuming that Twitch could have only banned him because of a mistranslation because of his "Moroccan dialect".

After speaking about the injustice happening in Palestine, @Twitch decided to issue a 30-day ban on my channel for Targeted Hateful Conduct.
Being an activist that fights against hate speech in Morocco, I thought there was a problem in translation since I speak Moroccan dialect.

— Marouane A. Lamharzi (@marouane53) May 28, 2021

"It just feels like I’m being silenced," said Lamharzi. Adding, "Twitch has already taken its side on the matter."

"I don’t know how I can fight this, since Twitch doesn’t want to listen."

Twitch's policy is to never publically comment on bans and Lamharzi's claim to have not broken the rules can not be verified. Lamharzi didn't elaborate on his views though he was tweeted in support of Palestine regularly since the start of the recent fighting, on the 18th of this month he claimed, "Israel literally became the same thing its people had to suffer throughout all of history."

The Israel-Palestinian conflict erupted into an 11-day period of violence earlier this month. Israeli airstrikes were launched at targets across Gaza while Hamas responded with rocket attacks, The violence left 254 Palestinians including 66 children dead, while in Israel 13 people were killed, including one child. A ceasefire was agreed upon and came into effect on 21st May. Both Israel and Hamas claimed victory in the conflict.

Twitch's Hateful Conduct and Harassment rules protect individuals and communities from a wide range of harassing and threatening language including, but not exclusively: Race, ethnicity, colour, caste, national origin, immigration status, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and disability.