Case Description
Due to a technical glitch, our public comments portal for cases related to the "From the River to the Sea" phrase closed earlier than planned. To ensure everyone has a chance to share their input, we've reopened it for 24 hours. The portal will now close at 12pm BST on May 23rd.
These three cases concern content decisions made by Meta, all on Facebook, which the Oversight Board intends to address together.
The three posts were shared by different users in November 2023, following the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7 and the start of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Each post contains the phrase “From the river to the sea.” All three were reported by users for violating Meta’s Community Standards. The company decided to leave all three posts on Facebook. For each case, the Board will decide whether the content should be removed under Meta’s policies and according to its human rights responsibilities. Numbers of views and reports are correct as of the end of February 2024.
The first case concerns a comment from a Facebook user on another user’s video. The video has a caption encouraging others to “speak up” with numerous hashtags including “#ceasefire” and “#freepalestine.” The comment on the post contains the phrase “FromTheRiverToTheSea” in hashtag form, as well as several additional hashtags including “#DefundIsrael.” The comment had about 3,000 views and was reported seven times by four users. The reports were closed after Meta’s automated systems did not send them for human review within 48 hours.
In the second case, a Facebook user posted what appears to be a generated image of fruit floating on the sea that form the words from the phrase, along with “Palestine will be free.” The post had about 8 million views and was reported 951 times by 937 users. The first report on the post was closed, again because Meta’s automated systems did not send it for human review within 48 hours. Subsequent reports by users were reviewed and assessed as non-violating by human moderators.
In the third case, a Facebook page reshared a post from the page of a community organization in Canada in which a statement from the “founding members” of the organization declared support for “the Palestinian people,” condemning their “senseless slaughter” by the “Zionist State of Israel” and “Zionist Israeli occupiers.” The post ends with the phrase “From The River To The Sea.” This post had less than 1,000 views and was reported by one user. The report was automatically closed.
The Facebook users who reported the content, and subsequently appealed Meta’s decisions to leave up the content to the Board, claimed the phrase was breaking Meta’s rules on Hate Speech, Violence and Incitement or Dangerous Organizations and Individuals. The user who reported the content in the first case stated that the phrase violates Meta’s policies prohibiting content that promotes violence or supports terrorism. The users who reported the content in the second and third cases stated that the phrase constitutes hate speech, is antisemitic and is a call to abolish the state of Israel.
After the Board selected these cases for review, Meta confirmed its original decisions were correct. Meta informed the Board that it analyzed the content under three policies – Violence and Incitement, Hate Speech and Dangerous Organizations and Individuals – and found the posts did not violate any of these policies. Meta explained the company is aware that “From the river to the sea” has a long history and that it had reviewed use of the phrase on its platform after October 7, 2023. After that review, Meta determined that, without additional context, it cannot conclude that “From the river to the sea” constitutes a call to violence or a call for exclusion of any particular group, nor that it is linked exclusively to support for Hamas.
The Board selected these cases to consider how Meta should moderate the use of the phrase given the resurgence in its use after October 7, 2023, and controversies around the phrase’s meaning. On the one hand, the phrase has been used to advocate for the dignity and human rights of Palestinians. On the other hand, it could have antisemitic implications, as claimed by the users who submitted the cases to the Board. This case falls within the Board’s strategic priority of Crisis and Conflict Situations.
The Board would appreciate public comments that address:
- The origin and current uses of the phrase: “From the river to the sea.”
- Research into online trends in content using the phrase.
- Research into any associated online and offline harms from the use of the phrase.
- Meta’s human rights responsibilities in relation to content using the phrase including freedom of expression, freedom of association, and equality and non-discrimination.
- State and institutional (e.g., university) responses to the use of the phrase (e.g., during protests) and the human rights impacts of those responses.
As part of its decisions, the Board can issue policy recommendations to Meta. While recommendations are not binding, Meta must respond to them within 60 days. As such, the Board welcomes public comments proposing recommendations that are relevant to these cases.
Comments
I am very pleased that Meta has allowed open discussion from both sides of this disagreement. The trend elsewhere seems to be that anything remotely favoring the Palestinian position is anti-Semitic and and therefore hate speech. I profoundly disagree with that position. Wanting to have their own country unencumbered by Israel or anyone else is a simple matter of self-determination, a very American/human value. People advocating for that are worthy of listening to. It is dangerous and insincere to conflate criticism of another country’s war-mongering actions with hate speech.
If the removal of anti-Semitic speech is Meta's goal, there are many white nationalist and neo-Nazis on Meta who should have their content removed. That's true anti-Semitism.
To the Oversight Board of Meta,
I wish to express my deep concern regarding a particular phrase that has surfaced on your platforms. The statement "Palestine will be free from the river to the sea" is not merely a call for Palestinian statehood; it is a clear and direct call for the eradication of the state of Israel and, by extension, the expulsion or eradication of Jews, including individuals like myself, from this region.
This phrase explicitly refers to the territory stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. This encompasses all current Israeli territory, including internationally undisputed areas such as Tel Aviv, Rishon LeZion, and Ashdod. Such rhetoric implicitly denies the right of Jews to live in these areas and calls for the dissolution of the state of Israel.
The implications of this are profound and alarming. The destruction of Israel would not only mean the end of a sovereign state but also result in Jews becoming a vulnerable minority, stripped of their right to self-determination. This call for destruction inherently violates the rights of Jews to exist in their own nation.
It is imperative that Meta's platforms do not become conduits for such harmful and dangerous rhetoric. I urge you to consider the broader implications of such statements and take appropriate action to ensure that calls for the eradication of any nation or people are not tolerated.
Thank you for your attention to this critical issue.
The majority of people who use the phrase, "From the River to the Sea", do not have a fully understanding of what that phrase means. Many cannot even tell you which river (The Jordan River) or which sea (The Mediterranean Sea). They use this phrase as a inflammatory subject line to justify what they are saying. This phrase means that the land "from the river to the sea" would be free of all Jews. This means that all Jews in this area are exiled or killed. This phrase comes from Hamas (the terrorist organization) belief that the land of Israel should be free from all Jews. This phrase takes away all other context from the larger situation of the conflict. It supports the falsehood that Jews have no claim to the land when in fact Jews have had history and a presence in that land for over 3000 years. This phrase supports the many exiles that Jews have undergone in the land of Israel.
The phrase "From the River to the Sea" is a "politically correct" way of saying no Jews in Israel and of saying let's exile or kill all Jews in Israel. Most of the people using this phrase on social media do not understand the anti-semitic and dangerous consequences of the reality of this phrase.
Pursue Peaceful Coexistence. War & Death is not the answer. Innocents are paying the price.
“From the river to the sea” began a rallying cry for Palestinians who sought to be free under one state–from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea before the 1948 partition.2 Today, it is a call for a free Palestine, rather than confinement to restricted areas under Israeli occupation and military assault. Self-determination for one people does not require the extermination of another. Palestinians themselves have said, again and again: “From the river to the sea” is not a call to violence against Israelis, and it is plain propaganda to suggest that Palestinians demanding liberation while currently being exterminated are the ones who want to mount a genocide.3
While Palestinians are vilified, actual anti-semitism thrives on Meta’s platforms. Meta has not meaningfully snuffed out white nationalists and neo-Nazis, nor banned discussion of the “Great Replacement Theory.”4 Anti-semitism is dangerous and presents a real threat to Jewish communities and our movements for justice, online and offline. By misrepresenting Palestinian liberation and solidarity as anti-semitism, we obfuscate real white supremacy and anti-semitism. Jews are not synonymous with the state of Israel, and it is dangerous and insincere to conflate criticism of a country’s war-mongering actions with hate speech.
Flagging “from the river to the sea” as hate speech will not protect the marginalized, the maligned, or the massacred. But it will muzzle their voices so fewer people are aware of the relentless brutality being visited on Palestine.
Dear Meta Oversight Board,
Flagging and removing the phrase “from the river to the sea” will only serve to silence Palestinians, Jewish dissenters in Israel, and those of us around the globe who oppose the Israeli government’s brutal genocide in Gaza. At a time when Palestinians are being massacred and starved to death, it is crucial that calls for liberation and solidarity are heard round the world.
Anti-semitism is a dangerous prejudice that presents online and offline threats to Jewish people. However, Palestinians calling for freedom from Israeli occupation and military violence from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea – the entirety of their ancestral homelands before the 1948 partition – is not an example of anti-semitism, nor of hate speech.
We urge you to maintain Meta’s policy of leaving the posts with the phrase “from the river to the sea” uncensored.
Signed,
D. Harper
The phrase "From the River to the Sea" is not antisemitic. The initial decision that it is not antisemitic hate speech is correct.
The desire to live in one’s historic homeland is NOT hate speech.
Why “From the River to the Sea” is an anti-Semitic hate speech that calls for the genocide of the Jewish people and should be banned from social media. The slogan “from the river to the sea” is not the call for “Palestinian” Arab liberation; it is a call for the eradication of the Jewish State of Israel, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. The slogan is a call for continued terrorism and “globalize the intifada” against the Jewish people. This phrase found its way to American college campuses, community disruptions and protests outside Jewish business, all emulating tactics of Nazi Germany. Such tactics now include social media. For the Meta Oversight Board to claim that such phrases could mean anything other than a call for the genocide of the Jewish people is both disingenuous and an attempt to hide the reality of anti-Semitism, hate speech and incitement to violence in its most modern form.
Virtually everyone in America implicitly accepts banning certain words and phrases that are hurtful or deemed threatening to certain minority groups. For example, in a civilized society, no one “has the right” to use the N-word in any social or academic institution. Why then is it considered “free speech” for social media users to intone the eliminationist chant “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Must be Free” or the call for “Jihad” and to “globalize the Intifada” – which effectively mean the murder/genocide of the Jewish people? If hate is to have no home here in America, it has to include everyone, including the Jewish people.
As noted by Rabbi Sachs, former Chief Rabbi of England, “Judaism – twice as old as Christianity, three times as old as Islam – was the call to Abraham’s descendants to create a society of freedom, justice, and compassion…. The Jewish connection to Israel is older by far than that of any other civilization to a place. It goes back four thousand years to the first recorded syllables of Jewish time…If any nation on earth has a right to any land – a right based on history, attachment, and long association – then the Jewish people has a right to Israel.”
Calls for the eradication of the Jewish homeland can only be understood as hate speech and an incitement to violence in its most radical and rabid form. By allowing such hate speech to continue, Meta makes itself a party to its perpetuation.
It is therefore imperative that the Meta Oversight Board consider the phrase “From the river to the sea” as a violation of the platforms' rules as it pertains to hate speech, incitement, and in support of violent organizations.
Marcia Rosenthal
Why “From the River to the Sea” is an anti-Semitic hate speech that calls for the genocide of the Jewish people and should be banned from social media.
The slogan “from the river to the sea” is not the call for “Palestinian” Arab liberation; it is a call for the eradication of the Jewish State of Israel, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. The slogan is a call for continued terrorism and “globalize the intifada” against the Jewish people. This phrase found its way to American college campuses, community disruptions and protests outside Jewish business, all emulating tactics of Nazi Germany. Such tactics now include social media. For the Meta Oversight Board to claim that such phrases could mean anything other than a call for the genocide of the Jewish people is both disingenuous and an attempt to hide the reality of anti-Semitism, hate speech and incitement to violence in its most modern form.
Virtually everyone in America implicitly accepts banning certain words and phrases that are hurtful or deemed threatening to certain minority groups. For example, in a civilized society, no one “has the right” to use the N-word in any social or academic institution. Why then is it considered “free speech” for social media users to intone the eliminationist chant “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Must be Free” or the call for “Jihad” and to “globalize the Intifada” – which effectively mean the murder/genocide of the Jewish people? If hate is to have no home here in America, it has to include everyone, including the Jewish people.
As noted by Rabbi Sachs, former Chief Rabbi of England, “Judaism – twice as old as Christianity, three times as old as Islam – was the call to Abraham’s descendants to create a society of freedom, justice, and compassion…. The Jewish connection to Israel is older by far than that of any other civilization to a place. It goes back four thousand years to the first recorded syllables of Jewish time…If any nation on earth has a right to any land – a right based on history, attachment, and long association – then the Jewish people has a right to Israel.”
Calls for the eradication of the Jewish homeland can only be understood as hate speech and an incitement to violence in its most radical and rabid form. By allowing such hate speech to continue, Meta makes itself a party to its perpetuation.
It is therefore imperative that the Meta Oversight Board consider the phrase “From the river to the sea” as a violation of the platforms' rules as it pertains to hate speech, incitement, and in support of violent organizations.
There is absolutely nothing anti-Jewish about the phrase "from the river to the sea." Jews are not synonymous with the state of Israel; therefore, it is dishonest and dangerous to conflate criticism of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands with anti-Jewish hate speech.
‘From the river…’ is not antisemitic, rather it is a call for a life of equality and freedom
for both Jews and Palestinians in historic Palestine. As a Jew, I want Meta to go after real antisemitism of neo-Nazis and the far right online and not misuse this very real problem against Palestinians who just want to end their oppression (irrespective of who is doing the oppressing).
Flagging “from the river to the sea” as hate speech will not protect the marginalized, the maligned, or the massacred. But it will muzzle their voices so fewer people are aware of the relentless brutality being visited on Palestine.
"From the river to the sea" is not hate speech. Lots of Jews are speaking that line. It would be wonderful if our social media platforms would insist on freedom of speech. I am not troubled by hate speech as much as I am by censorship. I think that Nazis should be able to March in Skokie. I think the hateful Zionists should too. Our corrupted government seems to be promoting hate speech by its preferred group. I see peaceful anti-Zionists being violently attacked by Zionists and police. The police and Zionists must be prosecuted and they would be prosecuted if we were free and truly a nation of laws.
May 15th marked the 76th anniversary of the Nakba, the mass expulsion of Palestinians to make way for the formation of Israel in 1948. 76 years later, we’re witnessing another Nakba as more than 35,000 Palestinians are dead, universities and hospitals have been obliterated, and Gazans starve to death as Israel denies them food and water. In the face of Israel’s genocidal campaign against Gaza, Palestinians and supporters are being attacked on social media platforms.
Users on Facebook sought to have posts containing the phrase “from the river to the sea” flagged as anti-semitic hate speech and removed. Meta, Facebook’s parent company, appropriately decided to leave the posts in question up, but their oversight board is now seeking public input about whether this cry for Palestinian freedom constitutes hate speech.
“From the river to the sea” began a rallying cry for Palestinians who sought to be free under one state–from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea before the 1948 partition. Today, it is a call for a free Palestine, rather than confinement to restricted areas under Israeli occupation and military assault. Self-determination for one people does not require the extermination of another. Palestinians themselves have said, again and again: “From the river to the sea” is not a call to violence against Israelis, and it is plain propaganda to suggest that Palestinians demanding liberation while currently being exterminated are the ones who want to mount a genocide.
While Palestinians are vilified, actual anti-semitism thrives on Meta’s platforms. Meta has not meaningfully snuffed out white nationalists and neo-Nazis, nor banned discussion of the “Great Replacement Theory.” Anti-semitism is dangerous and presents a real threat to Jewish communities and our movements for justice, online and offline. By misrepresenting Palestinian liberation and solidarity as anti-semitism, we obfuscate real white supremacy and anti-semitism. Jews are not synonymous with the state of Israel, and it is dangerous and insincere to conflate criticism of a country’s war-mongering actions with hate speech.
May 15th marked the 76th anniversary of the Nakba, the mass expulsion of Palestinians to make way for the formation of Israel in 1948.1 76 years later, we’re witnessing another Nakba as more than 35,000 Palestinians are dead, universities and hospitals have been obliterated, and Gazans starve to death as Israel denies them food and water.2 In the face of Israel’s genocidal campaign against Gaza, Palestinians and supporters are being attacked on social media platforms.
Users on Facebook sought to have posts containing the phrase “from the river to the sea” flagged as anti-semitic hate speech and removed. Meta, Facebook’s parent company, appropriately decided to leave the posts in question up, but their oversight board is now seeking public input about whether this cry for Palestinian freedom constitutes hate speech.3
“From the river to the sea” began a rallying cry for Palestinians who sought to be free under one state–from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea before the 1948 partition.4 Today, it is a call for a free Palestine, rather than confinement to restricted areas under Israeli occupation and military assault. Self-determination for one people does not require the extermination of another. Palestinians themselves have said, again and again: “From the river to the sea” is not a call to violence against Israelis, and it is plain propaganda to suggest that Palestinians demanding liberation while currently being exterminated are the ones who want to mount a genocide.5
While Palestinians are vilified, actual anti-semitism thrives on Meta’s platforms. Meta has not meaningfully snuffed out white nationalists and neo-Nazis, nor banned discussion of the “Great Replacement Theory.”6 Anti-semitism is dangerous and presents a real threat to Jewish communities and our movements for justice, online and offline. By misrepresenting Palestinian liberation and solidarity as anti-semitism, we obfuscate real white supremacy and anti-semitism. Jews are not synonymous with the state of Israel, and it is dangerous and insincere to conflate criticism of a country’s war-mongering actions with hate speech.
Flagging “from the river to the sea” as hate speech will not protect the marginalized, the maligned, or the massacred. But it will muzzle their voices so fewer people are aware of the relentless brutality being visited on Palestine.
Sources
“Nakba to Nakba, Palestinian life 76 years post-catastrophe is worse than 75”, Al Jazeera, May 16, 2024.
“Israel is deliberately starving Palestinians, UN rights expert says”, The Guardian, Feb. 27, 2024.
“Meta Oversight Board to review content with ‘from the river to the sea’ | The Hill”, The Hill, May 7, 2024.
“What does 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free' mean?”, CBC News, November 21, 2023.
“‘From the river to the sea’ – a Palestinian historian explores the meaning and intent of scrutinized slogan”, The Conversation, Nov. 16, 2023.
“White supremacists anonymous: how digital media emotionally energize far-right movements”, Taylor & Francis Online, Oct. 2, 2023.