Announcing: The Wall

A young IT professional in Germany, seeking jobs that will not support the ongoing apartheid in Palestine – that’s how TheWall began.

While looking for jobs in the IT sector, the founder of TheWall realised that on top of the hours spent on each application, they had to spend hours researching whether the company was associated with, funding, or supporting Israel’s occupation in Palestine in any way.

Thus was born TheWall – a browser plugin that detects more than 19,000 Israel-related websites and their social accounts. You add the extension on your browser and go about browsing the internet you usually would. TheWall quietly works in the background and lets you know when you are about to access a website that’s associated with Israel, i.e. investors or founders based in Israel, company functioning in Israel, or organisation run by people identifying as Israelis.

What if I still need to visit the website?
Then you can.

We understand that, for a myriad of reasons, you might need to visit a website even if you don’t support it. TheWall is intended to inform and support, not to police.

It will simply let you know that you’re about to visit a website that’s Israel-related. You can choose to bypass the notification, or you can choose to exit and choose alternatives.

What about my data?
It’s completely anonymised. Nobody, including the founder, will be able to access your identifying information.

Why is it not available on Mozilla Firefox?
It was available on Firefox, along with other browsers, for both desktop and Android. It even had great reviews by the users.

But somebody reported it for “spreading hate”, despite the fact that the plugin simply provides information. It doesn’t ban you from visiting a website, making a purchase, applying to a job, or any other action whatsoever.

Pursuant to this complaint, Mozilla removed the plugin. Ironically, Mozilla has always portrayed itself as a champion of an open, accessible, and user-controlled internet. Their website proudly urges visitors to “Get the browser that protects what's important,” and their manifesto commits to promoting civil discourse, human dignity, critical thinking, and verifiable facts. They state that the internet must remain a global public resource, free from discrimination based on demographic characteristics. Yet, by removing a plugin that simply pointed out whether a website is connected to illegal occupation, apartheid, or genocide, Mozilla undermines its own stated principles. Rather than empowering users to make informed decisions - as they claim to support - Mozilla’s action effectively shields those committing grave human rights violations from public scrutiny.

How does the plugin work really?

TheWall collects data from various public sources such as the organisation’s own website, public databases, social media pages, and the likes. When you visit a website, it is matched against this collected and cleaned information, and is flagged if it is Israel-related.

In the founder’s own words, “100% accuracy. Huge unmatched database. Complete privacy. No ads/spam or any unexpected behaviors. ALL ~50 reviews are 5 stars.”

Not to mention, the code itself is open-sourced. If you want to check it out, head to the GitHub link.

Add TheWall extension to your browser, and support Palestine with every click. Don’t forget to subscribe to the newsletter on the website to be informed on updates to the plugin.