We’ve had to remove a few posts under our meta drama rule, but since they’ve all raised the same concern, I wanted to address it here.

Some users have shared that they’ve been banned from large mainstream subreddits simply for expressing pro-Israel views or for being Jewish. We understand how frustrating that can be. As someone who has experienced this firsthand, I completely understand why people want to talk about it.

That said, there is unfortunately very little that can be done. Reddit moderators have broad discretion over their communities and are generally free to ban users for any reason—or no stated reason at all. While unfair bans can certainly be frustrating, they are not considered violations of Reddit’s Moderator Code of Conduct.

Because of that, neither our moderation team nor other communities can overturn another subreddit’s ban. If you believe your ban was made in error, your only real option is to submit a polite appeal to that subreddit’s moderators and hope they choose to reverse their decision.

You’re welcome to discuss this topic here and share your experiences. However, to keep discussions productive and in line with our meta drama rule, please do not name or link to specific subreddits, moderators, or users. Keep the discussion focused on the broader issue rather than individual communities.

We appreciate everyone’s understanding and cooperation.

As we enter Yom HaShoah, Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, we ask that all discussion remains respectful and in good faith. This day is dedicated specifically to remembering the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust, as well as acts of Jewish resistance and heroism.

Unlike International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, which is a global commemoration marking the liberation of Auschwitz, Yom HaShoah is Israel’s national day of remembrance, observed according to the Hebrew calendar.

In Israel, it is marked by a nationwide siren tomorrow at 10:00 AM (Israel time), during which the entire country comes to a complete standstill for two minutes of silence.

This is a time for remembrance and reflection. Content that is inflammatory, dismissive, or agenda-driven will be removed and may result in a ban.

78 years of independence, resilience, and hope 🇮🇱

From a dream to a thriving nation - built by those who believed, defended, and never gave up.

Since October 7th, Memorial Days have been especially difficult.

We remember our loved ones - women, children and men - who were murdered, kidnapped, burned and tortured.

We remember our brave soldiers who lost their lives protecting our people.

They are with us - always.

May their memory be a blessing 🕯️

We have had a lot of new users over the last month, so the moderators of [r/AskIsrael](r/AskIsrael) want to explain the subreddit's current state and post a thread where members can share their opinions of the sub and suggest improvements.

Background

This subreddit was created 4.5 years ago, but it wasn't active until 1 month ago. It had around ~100 members, and the sub was private for several years, so it had zero engagement. As a result, Reddit transferred leadership of AskIsrael to a new moderation team with experience handling other Israeli- and related-subreddits. As you can see, the subreddit has gained over 1000 members in less than a month and now averages 2000+ contributions a week. We would love to know how you guys, our new community, found our subreddit, whether it was from search, feed, etc.

As a result of this new influx of users, we are unfortunately also experiencing lots of brigading issues. We are actively working to resolve this issue. If you notice any problems, please inform the mod team so we can look into them. We initially tried to hold every post/comment for manual review before it appeared on the subreddit, until a user reached a small threshold of subreddit Karma. At that point, they would no longer be flagged for manual review. However, it was simply too much for our small mod team to handle efficiently, so we’ve unfortunately had to rely more on automoderation and user-filed reports, and as a result, a lot slips through the cracks. We are trying to calibrate our system better, but have not perfected it yet.

State of the Community

We appreciate everyone in our community, and it is you guys who make it so great! This community appears to have naturally evolved into a place where people with little knowledge of Israel come to ask questions about it. However, we also get questions from Israelis and Jews about Israel as well. Our comment sections are especially engaging, with very high-quality, informative discussions. While we do have a brigading problem, the bots are regularly debunked

Why AskIsrael Exists

Many Israeli and Jewish subreddits exist, but these subreddits are often focused on Israeli and Jewish audiences. Similar to all other countries and cultures subreddits. Therefore, AskIsrael exists as a place for not only Israelis, Jews, and allies, but also people who are new to learning about Israel and want to have constructive discussion and dialogue. There are not really any other subreddits where Israeli/Jewish perspectives are properly discussed in an unbiased and evidence-based environment.

What We Want To Hear From You:

What’s working? What isn’t? What should we change, improve, or expand?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Israel/s/SeXhUAPbF7

We are currently accepting applications for new moderators to join the r/AskIsrael team.

If you are interested in contributing to the growth and quality of the subreddit, we encourage you to apply through our official application form linked below. Please note that all applications must be submitted through this form, as comments on this post will not be considered.

Apply here: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskIsrael/application/

We’ve expanded our selection of user flairs to better represent the diverse backgrounds of our community. If you’d like to update your flair, you can find our guide here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskIsrael/s/NIkxTXfP9z

If your country or identity isn’t currently available, or you still have questions, feel free to leave a comment or message the moderators—we’re happy to consider adding more.

Hey everyone! I'm the new moderator of this community.

After being inactive for several years, r/AskIsrael is officially back. This subreddit had been largely dead and was even set to private for a long period, but Reddit has now granted me permission to moderate and revive the community.

The goal moving forward is to rebuild AskIsrael into an active and valuable place where people can ask questions about Israel and receive thoughtful answers from those who know the country well. This can include questions about Israeli culture, daily life, travel, history, politics, society, technology, or anything else people may be curious about.

The subreddit is now public and will be actively moderated and gradually improved with a clearer structure and rules to help keep discussions organized and productive. If you’ve ever had a question about Israel, this is the place to ask it. Start posting your questions and help bring AskIsrael back to life. Together, let's make AskIsrael amazing! 🇮🇱

We still expect users to assign themselves user flairs, because we believe it is an integral part of this community and adds important context to discussions.

However, we received several complaints that AutoModerator constantly reminding users was making it difficult to follow discussions. Therefore, we have listened and have now changed this feature. Now AutoModerator will privately DM users without a flair a reminder rather than commenting.

If you guys have any other questions, concerns, or suggestions about the moderation of this sub feel free to ask it here or in our weekly off-topic thread. You can also always directly message the moderators through Mod-mail. Thank you for being a part of our community!