YouTube pulls flotilla parody after 3 million views

YouTube removed on Friday a parody on the Gaza-bound flotilla called “We Con the World” after the music video was used by some three million site visitors, citing a copyright claim by Warner/Chappell Music.

Latma, a non-profit organization started to critique the “egregious leftist slant of news coverage” in Israel, says before posting the song – which is based on the music from the 1985 song “We Are the World,” by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie – copyright experts informed them the music could be used in accordance with the Fair Use Doctrine.

YouTube’s decision to pull Latma’s viral video “shows that Israel’s enemies are afraid of us,” said website editor Caroline Glick. “Since they cannot refute our points, they are trying to silence us. First they threw ridiculous accusations at Latma that our parody of ‘We are the World’ was racist. When that didn’t stick and more and more people continued to watch our song, they decided to silence us.”

During Operation Cast Lead, YouTube took combat footage posted by the IDF Spokesman’s Unit off its site.

“If YouTube didn’t already have a track record for censoring pro-Israel material, I would say that despite the obviously frivolous and unsubstantiated nature of the copyright claim against ‘We Con the World,’ the company was simply erring on the side of caution,” said Glick. “The fact that more than three million people have already seen the video and that it has been written up in major newspapers and featured on major television networks around the world since we first posted it last Thursday night, however, causes me to fear that something else is going on here.”

More flotilla articles:
Why Israel can’t seem to solve its PR problem (opinion)
ADL to US State Department: Flotilla backers are terror organizations
‘What’s left now?’ wonders Israel (opinion)
Netanyahu on flotilla clash: ‘We have a right to inspect cargo heading into Gaza’
Navy commando: ‘There were terrorists who wanted to kill us’
Flotilla passengers backed by global jihad group
Gaza backgrounder: Humanitarian aid, imports and conditions
Flotilla commando: ‘I saw the tip of a rifle’
Hamas terrorists were at Gaza flotilla launch

Tags: Caroline Glick, Flotilla, Latma, We Con the World