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
Briefly, this phrase, used for decades, most generally refers to the anti-racist idea that the geographical area from Jordan to the Mediterranean should be free from occupation, and be a democratic area/state where all are equal.
Yes, it can be distorted, but it is easy to see if a particular post has done so, and remove THAT post.
Thank you
If a minority group tells you that words are causing them harm, you should believe and listen to them. Other people don't get to decide or diminish. From the River to the Sea has been and continues to be a call for the elimination of jews in Israel and even if some people now use it without fully intending that, the harm is still done. Listen to the people who are harmed by an expression and believe them. Just as is done when people of color, lgbtq+ people, if ANYONE tells us certain words are historically weaponized against them, we should listen.
The river is the Jordan. The sea is the Mediterranean. The implication is that Palestine will eliminate Israel.
Hamas has made it quite clear that should that happen those who fought against it will be killed (genocide); the rest of the Israelis other than presumably those Arabs who haven't fought against Hamas, in the army, police, prison service, etc. would be expelled (ethnic cleansing) except those whose profession is essential for the new state who would be forced to stay (slavery).
Numerous times I heard the aspiration of Arabic in the middle east publicly calling to throw the Israelis or the Jewish people to the sea. From the river to the sea has been a phrase calling for the genocide of Jewish people for many generations. Using it today echos the very same intetions, even if some maight say the meaning is different. The river and the sea are the two natural boarders of the state therfore this call is a clear encouragement of violence and do not support a two state solution or the right for the two side to live in peace, it is calling for the elimination of one side and that is dangerous.
The phrase "From the river to the sea" is not antisemitism or rhetoric coincidence jewish hate but a phrase wishing freedom for the indigenous people to be free from apartheid & repression. Please do not curb speech as doing so is what zionists want to do--censor free speech.
From the river to the sea is hate speech.
It's echoing the Arab goal and chant of getting rid of the Jewish people in the land of Israel, making it all Arab and a Jew free zone.
The expression "From the River to the Sea" is used by Palestinians to express their desire for a single state in which everyone lives together with equal rights. The same expression is used by Israel's ruling Likud Party to express their desire to ethnically cleanse the Palestinian people.
“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free”
Regardless of who has the greater claim to the Holy Land that spans east to west from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea; a chant for the obliteration of humans should not be questioned but immediately removed as hate speech.
Recently this call has been made, even by a member of Congress, and in most of the anti-Israel marches around the world, and some try to say this is not a call of hate.
But there is no pretending the chant isn't a cry for the complete annihilation of the State of Israel and its Jewish citizens.
If any other race, creed, nationality, or faith were the target of this genocidal chant, Meta wouldn't hesitate to remove it.
Jewish people deserve the same protection as every other person on the planet.
I realize the Jewish population is around .15% of the world population and thus offending or hurting Jews may seem insignificant when trying to accommodate other groups.
But this is your opportunity to uphold your responsibility to protect all individuals equally.
Please do the right thing.
P. Pinter
"From the river to the sea" is clearly the anti-semitic message to murder us Jews. This should be completely illegal to post and insight violence.
Short and sweet: "from the river to the sea" is a shorthand for wanting Israel/Jews dead. It is being superficially *repurposed* as a rallying cry for Palestinian justice, but it's a false flag. No different than "let's go Brandon"... it is a message of hate and a wish for death, not a peaceful solution. It is a soft soundbyte for cowards that don't say what they really mean.
“From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free” is a rallying cry for terrorist groups and their sympathizers, from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) to Hamas, which called for Israel’s destruction in its original governing charter in 1988, and called for global jihad as recent as Oct 13, 2023.
From the River to the Sea is a term used by Palestinians derived from several Arabic phrases that means there should exist a Palestinian state for Arab Muslims along with the elimination of the state of Israel from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. It does not mean a state where Palestinians and Jews live freely but rather one without Jews and for Arab Muslims only. It effective calls for the elimination of the State of Israel.
Now is your opportunity to ensure that Meta upholds its responsibility to combat antisemitism on its platform.
“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” is an open call for the complete annihilation of the State of Israel and its citizens.
This is 100% genocidal hate speech that advocates for the destruction of the only Jewish state and the mass murder of its Jewish population.
The comment from the river to the sea Palestine will be free is nothing but a cry for freedom from a brutal settler colonial project.
Its embarrassing that this is even up for debate and only expose Meta's complicity in the ongoing Genocide in Gazza.
Meta has Censored most Palastenian content in their attempt to allow the murderous Israeli Terrorist state to continue the Genocide by preventing people from seeing the death and destruction in Gazza.
We will surely boycott Meta and other social Media platforms thaf have no regard for basic universal human rights including the right to live a free, dignified life.
The Expression "From the River to the Sea" is most certainly ANTISEMITIC and is a specific call for GENOCIDE of the Jewish People, not only in Israel, but worldwide.
The comment “From the river to the sea,” usually followed by “Palestine will be free” refers to the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, or the Nation of Israel. Israel is the only Jewish homeland in the world. The comment is meant to imply the obliteration of the Jewish homeland. Jews worldwide feel a strong connection to Israel, as they have been persecuted, driven out, and exterminated from most parts of the world since the diaspora 2000 years ago. Israel is their safe place. At Passover, they end the Seder with “Next year in Jerusalem.” Calls for the annihilation of Israel are very threatening to Jewish people and hence antisemitic by their very nature.
The language phrase represents a very well known, anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist and anti-Israel phrase. The phrase originated in the Middle East, often used by Arab and Palestinian peoples, first in hatred as a mantra during their desire to buck the 1948 British sponsored United Nations mandate that split the lands between Arabs and Jews, specifically a piece to Jews known as the state of Israel, the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan which annexed the territory of the West Bank, and the Egyptian kingdom which established the all Palestinian protectorate in the Gaza Strip.
The Arabs wanted all the lands and wanted to drive the Jews into the sea, premised on historical anti-Semitic and hatred. The phrase used establishes that hatred filled desire to
Kill all Jews and drive them into the sea, and became a common known mantra to this day.
To claim otherwise is basically false. Saying it doesn’t make it true. Hate speech is unconstitutional in the United Staes, period.
From the river to the sea clearly means wipe out Israel and replace it with Palestine, in other words it’s an attempt to genocide tje Jewish people and that should never be allowed, never again.
The phrase "From the River to the Sea" implies the second part of that slogan "Palestine will be free." This refers to ridding the historic homeland of Jews, what we call Erets Yisrael, of all Jews. It is openly a call for genocide of Jews.
Fifty years ago, on May 14-15, 1974, palestinien terrorists from Lebanon crossed into Israel massacred 25 civilians and took 115 Jewish hostages chiefly school children. Ultimately, these members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine killed 25 and injured 68 more hostages. We witnessed these same horrible acts in October 2023. Gazans are clear in their mission: kill, wipe out the Jews and take their land. That’s what “from the river to the sea” stands for. Promoting that language is promoting the destruction of the Jewish state of Israel.
From the River to the Sea is from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea - which encompasses ALL of Israel and the Jews (and Christians) living there - leaving only select Muslims left alive there. If that is not Genocide, what is???