Facebook briefly bans Yair Netanyahu, son of Israeli PM

Facebook has briefly blocked the page of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's son, Yair, after he shared previously banned content calling for "all Muslims to leave" Israel.

In a message posted Thursday on his Facebook page, after the latest flare-up in violence saw at least five Palestinians and three Israelis, including two soldiers, killed in recent days, Yair Netanyahu had called for the expulsion of Palestinians.

"Do you know where there are no attacks? In Iceland and in Japan where coincidentally there are no Muslims," the prime minister's son wrote.

In another post, he wrote that there were only two possible solutions for peace, either "all Jews leave [Israel] or all Muslims leave".

"I prefer the second option," added the 27-year-old, who has faced criticism of being a grown man living in the prime minister's residence despite having no official role and benefitting from a bodyguard, a driver and other perks.

Facebook deleted Yair Netanyahu's posts, in which he called for "avenging the deaths" of the two Israeli soldiers.

Yair Netanyahu, who shared a screenshot of the earlier post in violation of Facebook's community rules, took to Twitter to criticise the social networking giant, calling it a "dictatorship of thought".

Facebook blocked his account for 24 hours.

Facebook prohibits re-posting of material that has already been removed and it appears that it was this violation that led to Netanyahu’s account being suspended.

The prime minister’s son has a history of crude and provocative Facebook posts that his father is sometimes forced to disavow. He recently referred to the Israeli media and Left-wing politicians as “traitors”.

Last year, he posted a meme implying that George Soros, the Jewish financier, was secretly controlling the world. American Neo-Nazis noticed the post and praised Netanyahu for its anti-Semitic content. He later deleted it.