Under pressure from pro-Israel group, Twitch bans several Arab streamers over a month-old TwitchCon panel

pcgamer.com:

In the last week Twitch has found itself embroiled in controversy over what streamers are allowed to say and do about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine. The incident that brought it to prominence was a racist anti-Palestinian rant by popular streamer Asmongold, which saw him receive a 14-day suspension as well as admit he was out of order and apologise.

Now Twitch has banned a group of Middle Eastern streamers for «hateful conduct,» and for one month each, even longer than Asmongold. The reason for the bans isn't entirely clear, but it apparently centres around a tier list ranking streamers from «Arab» to «loves Sabra», an American and Israeli-owned hummus brand.

The ranking was part of a TwitchCon panel hosted by Twitch partner Frogan on September 21, who said it was all about «who has a habibi pass» (habibi is Arabic for «my love»). This was subsequently picked up by Ethan Klein of h3h3Productions, a streamer and advocate for Israel, who posted a video titled «Twitch Has a Major Problem» claiming the panel was «kinda Arab good, Jew bad» and that the Sabra reference is anti-Israeli because this particular brand is often part of pro-Palestinian boycotts. Klein further produced an inverted image of the tier list on Instagram Stories (which disappear after 24 hours) with «loves Sabra» now accompanied by «Jews who live in Israel» to make his point.

The real game-changer, however, seems to have been the involvement of the Anti-Defamation League, a major American non-profit that campaigns against antisemitism and promotes Zionism as a movement for «self-determination and statehood for the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland.» Yesterday the ADL confirmed in a statement it had put pressure on Twitch to act about the month-old stream, and accused Frogan of spreading «antisemitic vitriol.» The full statement reads:

«ADL spoke with the Twitch staff today after becoming aware of several concerning incidents on the social media platform and/or involving