Editorial Note: The following is a guest post by Tzlil Berko, a very talented writer from Israel who is also an IPT Fellow. This article was first published by Ms. Berko on Substack. Ms. Berko makes a compelling argument about her work being censored by LinkedIn because of brazen antisemitism.
Steven Emerson
LinkedIn has banned me for life, and I believe it is because my pro Israel voice went viral
by Tzlil Berko
Special to IPT News
It has taken me a very long time to write this article.
Something in me resisted it. Perhaps because it is still profoundly painful. It touches a nerve so deep that avoiding it altogether often felt easier than confronting it. Perhaps because I did not know where to begin. The story is long, disturbing, and emotionally loaded, and until recently, I had not fully processed it myself, let alone felt ready to confront it publicly.
But it's time to speak out:
I believe that LinkedIn permanently removed my account because of my highly effective, unapologetic pro Israel voice.
That is not a slogan. It is a conclusion. One I reached carefully, reluctantly, and based on evidence.
In this article, I will show you why I believe this to be true. I will do so with screenshots that document selective enforcement and with a condensed account of what happened to me on this platform. I will demonstrate how my voice was silenced while users who explicitly called, in writing, for violent death against me and against Jews were allowed to remain active, visible, and untouched.
This is not about disagreement.
It is not about political debate.
And it is not about hurt feelings.
It is about enforcement.
It is about consistency.
And it is about whether a professional platform can claim neutrality while applying its rules so unevenly.
I will end with a question. Not an accusation, but a question that deserves to be asked openly and seriously.
When Jewish voices are removed from LinkedIn and calls for violence against Jews remain, what exactly is happening here?
This screenshot shows a response from a LinkedIn user to a post I published.
The content of this response is unacceptable. It constitutes an explicit genocidal threat against Jews. I believe this is self evident.
Accordingly, I reported the comment to LinkedIn.
LinkedIn reviewed my report and decided otherwise. The user was not removed, and the comment remained on the platform.
In other words, calling for the murder of Jews was determined not to be a violation of LinkedIn's policies.
Below is a screenshot confirming that I reported the content and that LinkedIn declined to take action:
Now that you have seen a clear proof of concept, let's move on to my story.
What LinkedIn and I have is a long, troubled relationship. Call it a romance if you like, but one marked by escalation, friction, and ultimately rupture. Over the course of this process, I accumulated a significant body of material. Reports. Appeals. Screenshots. Correspondence. Statements I wrote in moments of restraint and in moments of urgency.
Unfortunately there is far more than can fit into a single article...
So I will publish this story in parts.
Consider this the first installment.
The appetizer.
What follows is the condensed version of events. Not the full archive. Not the final word. Just enough to establish a pattern that should deeply concern anyone who believes this platform applies its rules fairly.
Despite its explicit nature, LinkedIn determined that this comment did not violate platform policy. The user remained active, and the comment was left untouched. Look:
So we have established the following.
Publicly calling for Israel's annihilation does not violate LinkedIn policy. Publishing vile lies and propaganda that incite violence against Jews does not violate LinkedIn policy. Repeating blood libels and using overtly antisemitic rhetoric, including phrases such as "you people," does not violate LinkedIn policy.
All of this is considered acceptable by LinkedIn's Trust and Safety Team. Lovely.
By silencing voices like mine, LinkedIn effectively protects the endless false narratives of the enemies of the free world.
As you know by now, since the genocide on October 7th, I've been using my unapologetically voice to tell the world about the catastrophe that has befallen us Israelis, to call for the return of our innocent hostages, Jews and Israeli Arabs, who were taken from their homes in Israel on that Black Saturday and to raise awareness about the magnitude of the global threat we face: Global jihad is infiltrating everywhere, destroying anything in its path; it's called "global" for a reason you know. I've also been fighting antisemitism and misinformation, which is rapidly becoming the dominant narrative, consuming and overtaking public opinion.
This is a direct threat against me. Do you think LinkedIn removed it? You already know the answer.
I will try to be brief and concise here. I will publish another article in which I will go into far greater detail and attach additional evidence to every claim I make.
When Palestinian terrorists invaded Israel on October 7th, murdering in cold blood over 1200 Israeli civilians and committing satanic atrocities against us Jews, we were attacked digitally as well. Social media became another battlefield.
And yes, I was triggered by the antisemitic comments attached. That is not surprising. Some of my reactions were not polished or presidential, and LinkedIn responded by placing restriction after restriction on my account.
When the war began, I had approximately 1000 followers. As my posts began to go viral and my reach expanded rapidly, the restrictions intensified. Eventually, LinkedIn permanently removed my account. At that point, it had grown to roughly 7000 followers and was increasing every single day.
I was effective in advocating for Jews and for Israel. For that, I was punished.
Because there is not enough space to fully elaborate in this first chapter, here are several essential facts you need to know. I will list them clearly and directly:
LinkedIn was my favorite platform. I valued it deeply, relied on it professionally, and I still care about it very much.
My work as a security consultant requires me to address sensitive subjects, including terrorism and extremism. This inevitably attracted hostile and inflammatory responses rooted in antisemitism, at a time when my country, my people, and my own family were under attack by Islamist savages on multiple fronts.
LinkedIn's decision to remove me erased everything. More than ten years of professional history, my curriculum vitae, my network, my data, approximately seven thousand followers, and a body of work built carefully over more than a decade were all wiped out.
There are very few voices actively defending Israel on this business oriented social platform. Removing mine only further narrows that already limited space.
Via LinkedIn 
Via LinkedIn In emails with LinkedIn, they repeatedly wrote "Palestine" as if it actually exists on the map, revealing their stance...
After my removal, I took full responsibility. I expressed understanding and apologized repeatedly, both in extensive written correspondence and in a Zoom meeting that gave me false hope. It made no difference. LinkedIn was determined to keep me excluded, even though most of the posts cited against me had already been erased unilaterally before my account was permanently blocked.
I strongly suspect that LinkedIn's content moderation decisions are influenced by reviewers operating from anti Israel states. This deserves serious and independent examination.
Islamist networks operating on LinkedIn function as an organized force, composed of both real actors and coordinated bot activity. When they identify an account that is making an impact, exposing facts, challenging propaganda, and disrupting their hateful narrative, they act.
They target it.
What follows is mass reporting. Systematic. Coordinated. Relentless.
Jews are few. Their hostility is not.
When countless accounts and bots report you simultaneously, your profile is automatically flagged. From that point on, decisions are handled by lower to mid level content moderators, many of whom hold a clear predisposition against Israel, as previously noted. Once flagged under these conditions, the outcome is almost predetermined.
You are marked.
You are restricted.
And eventually, you are removed.It is that simple.
Via LinkedIn Reporting leads nowhere. Responding activates selective enforcement.
What is clear, however, is this. Reporting antisemitic content that calls for your eradication leads nowhere. Responding forcefully to those who openly incite hatred and violence against Jews, while they are allowed to operate freely on the platform, comes at a price. And that price, in my case, was total removal.
On many occasions, LinkedIn informs you that your report was successful and that the jihadist who called for your removal from this planet has been taken down. But then, quite often, another message follows. After a second review, you are told that the same comment is now considered acceptable and has been restored to the platform.
Yes, appeals by haters work. Ours rarely do.
This pattern is not incidental. It is consistent enough to raise serious questions, and I would welcome an independent examination to determine whether this observation can be empirically validated.
Here is a jihadist with a claimed PhD openly praising Yahya Sinwar on LinkedIn.
Sinwar is on the United States wanted list for actively plotting the murder of American citizens. He was the architect of the October 7th genocide, during which more Jews were murdered in a single day than at any time since the
Holocaust.
He masterminded the invasion of Israel, the mass murder of Israeli civilians, sadistic sexual abuse, and the kidnapping of men, women, children, and elderly Holocaust survivors, including both Jews and Israeli Arabs.
Publicly praising him is considered acceptable content. As you can clearly see, LinkedIn allows this to remain on the platform.
After LinkedIn removed my account in this opaque manner, I tried relentlessly, day and night, to restore my profile, without success.
Although it was clear I was no longer welcome on the platform, I opened a new LinkedIn account using a different email address. LinkedIn discourages this (to say the very least), yet with no clear path to reverse their drastic decision, I attempted to reestablish a professional presence in this way.
Once again, my new account quickly gained traction. This time, I was exceedingly careful: I avoided past "mistakes," restrained myself, and primarily directed followers to read my articles on a newly created Substack profile.
It did not matter.
LinkedIn apparently connected the dots and began harassing me with a continuous stream of procedural threats: "This is not a valid profile picture, change it or stay out." "This is not your real name, change it or stay out." One demand after another. An endless sequence of emails... exhausting and draining.
I complied politely every single time. I have everything documented and will expose this mechanism in depth in a future chapter about LinkedIn.
Eventually, LinkedIn locked me out.
LinkedIn FYI: Today, opening a LinkedIn account requires scanning your face and uploading government-issued identification. This was not always the case. After locking me out, LinkedIn instructed me to repeat this validation process: scan my face from every possible angle, rescan my identification. I was told explicitly that this would allow me to regain access to my account. I have screenshots of everything I state here.
That was a lie. Plain and simple.
I did exactly as instructed because I had no choice. After fully complying, my account was permanently banned. I remain locked out to this day, roughly eighteen months later.
My conclusion is unavoidable: they scanned me in every possible way in order to ensure that I stayed out. Persona non grata on LinkedIn.
Via LinkedIn
Poof! Just like that, your entire online business existence vanishes and you're powerless against it.
The damage did not stop there. Many of my LinkedIn followers began sending me angry and confused messages, believing that I had blocked them personally. I had vanished without explanation. LinkedIn erased me without warning, without context, and without allowing me to say a single word to the many people who followed my work.
Yes, LinkedIn has harmed me on so many levels.
Below is the link I shared on LinkedIn that led to my second profile being removed. It is simply a link: factual, relevant and highly important.
I invite you to open it and decide for yourself whether sharing this constitutes a legitimate or moral reason to expel someone from a professional platform for life: Evidence on Display at Israel's Forensic Pathology Center Confirms Hamas' Atrocities
Article screenshot via The Main Line
I Paid the Price for Being Effective
On LinkedIn, I reached journalists, policymakers, CEOs, and other influential figures across the world with one clear purpose: to advocate for Israel, to defend Jews, and to counter the flood of lies, distortions, and moral inversions that followed the October 7 genocide. My writing traveled far beyond posts and comments. Much of the work happened quietly, behind the scenes, with full awareness that we are engaged in a battle over public perception, legitimacy, and truth.
Our opponent is not nuance. It is a colossal lie. A lie unrestrained by moral boundaries and utterly indifferent to facts. Behind it stands a vast and coordinated ecosystem of jihadist Islamists and other antisemitic users who outnumber us and operate in organized mass pro terror cells, without shame or accountability. Their objective is simple. To remove Jewish and pro Israel voices from social platforms one by one so that their false narrative can dominate. An Orwellian universe, in the most literal sense.
Since the war began, I have given everything I could. Humbly, but without hesitation. Consistently, and without retreat. I will continue to do so unapologetically, for as long as it takes.
But this must be said clearly: There is a price. A significant one.
My removal from LinkedIn exacted a heavy toll. My Jewish voice, raised in defense of Israel, was silenced. I was harmed personally. My business was damaged. Years of professional relationships and access were severed overnight. A network I built carefully over more than a decade was cut off without recourse. My heart was hurt, and I lost trust in humanity. I am sadly serious when I say this.
At the same time, users who openly wished death upon me and my people remained untouched. I reported them. In most cases, nothing happened. Yet I was removed with striking ease.
The contrast could not be starker.
Do You Think This Is Fair?
What this reveals is not neutral enforcement. It is a system in which guidelines are elastic, consequences are uneven, and accountability is selectively applied. And that alone should alarm anyone who still believes LinkedIn is governed by consistent principles rather than biased and antisemitic ones.
I have exhausted the space allotted for this article. I have much more to say and much more to show, and I will do so in my next LinkedIn piece.
For now, I ask those of you who stayed with me through this long and difficult account to please help if you can. I do not yet know how, but if you can assist, whether by exploring legal avenues to restore my LinkedIn profile, connecting me with others pursuing legal action, or helping ensure that selective enforcement is not allowed to continue unchecked, please reach out.
If you have other ideas, or if you hold influence and can help make an impact in this matter, write to me. Let's make it happen.
No one will silence the Jews again.
We are proud.
We are resilient.
And we will fight back.
Am Israel Chai.
Support my work: buy me a coffee link. L'chaim!
IPT Fellow Tzlil Berko is an experienced security consultant and entrepreneur. She is also an avid writer of poetry, song lyrics, short stories, scripts, and more. Tzlil has played a major role in conceiving and writing with her parents, Drs. Anat and Reuven Berko, a TV psychological thriller and a family melodrama that draws on Dr. Anat Berko's books and the family's remarkable personal story. She is currently completing her thesis on the potential relationship and influence between terrorism and the Metaverse.
Follow Tzlil on Substack and on X @BerkoTzlil
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