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
1. The sentence from the river to the sea was Originated in a terrorist organization (Hamas) charter.
2. Palestine was a name the Roman gave to the region that included 'Eretz Israel', but no Palestinian State.
3. This phrase is calling for the creation of a new Palestinian state in place of the existing state of Israel, that means the genocide of all Israelis (of all denominations).
4. This phrase is calling for the destruction of Israel, as an Anti-Zionist call that rejects the right of Jews for self-determibation and security.
5. It is Antisemitic and a recist call for violence.
6. It is prohibitive to a peace agreement in the region.
Thanks
I find the quote “From the River to the Sea” to be highly offensive and threatening to a people group. It is currently used by Hamas to mean the eradication of all Jewish people. Those who quote this phrase on social media may or may not understand the intent by Hamas. But using the phrase encourages hatred of Jews and acceptance of Hamas' stance. It legitimizes Hamas, dismisses their terrorist attack of Oct. 7, 2023 and actually supports a recognized terrorist organization.
https://apnews.com/article/river-sea-israel-gaza-hamas-protests-d7abbd756f481fe50b6fa5c0b907cd49
Any anti Israeli hate speech is unacceptable. Hamas started this war and Israel must finish what it started, the annihilation of hamas. Israel has gone to great lengths to avoid casualties in Gaza of innocent civilians. We cannot allow the media to distort and twist the truth. May GOD bless the Israeli people and GODSPEED to the armed forces.
1. Originated in a terrorist organization (Hamas) charter.
2. Palestine was a name the Roman gave to the region that included 'Eretz Israel', but no Palestinian State.
3. This phrase is calling for the creation of a new Palestinian state in place of the existing state of Israel, that means the genocide of all Israelis (of all denominations).
4. This phrase is calling for the destruction of Israel, as an Anti-Zionist call that rejects the right of Jews for self-determibation and security.
5. It is Antisemitic and a recist call for violence.
6. It is prohibitive to a peace agreement in the region.
I AM TOTALLY SHOCKED AND ABHORED THAT META HAS ALLOWED THE GENOCIDAL ANTI-SEMITIC HATRED PHRASE WHICH CALLS FOR THE TOTAL ANNIHILATION OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL TO STILL BE ALLOWED ON IT'S MEDIA, THE PHRASE BEING "FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA" META NEEDS TO SERIOUSLY RE-CONSIDER IT'S ACTIONS TO HAVE ITSELF ACCEPTABLE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.
The phrase "from the river to the sea" is a phrase connoting a desire for complete control of the geographic space between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. The phrase has been used in the past by hard-right Israeli leaders (expressing a desire for complete Israeli sovereignty in that space), as well as Palestinian and other Arab leaders (expressing a desire for complete Arab occupation of that space). It is worth noting that Arab leaders have NOT generally used that phrase for Palestinian sovereignty; rather, its use has been specifically exclusionary of Jews and Israel, rather than an assertion of Palestinian rights specifically. In that way, it treats all Arabs as being entitled to occupy the space, regardless of nationality. Furthermore, it is an express rejection of a two-state solution, no matter who is speaking.
In the context of the current conflict between Israel and Hamas, this phrase is both genocidal and antisemitic because it is an expression of support for Hamas (whose express primary goal is the extermination of all Jews worldwide, starting with Israel). It is not a call for Palestinian "freedom", as has been alleged, because it is not simply a call for Israel to stop occupying Gaza and/or the West Bank (which are the specific geographic places that make up the Palestinian "state"). Rather, the phrase calls for Israel - and Jews - to be entirely gone from the region. It is a reminder that Jews have already been forcibly removed from the surrounding regions over a fairly short period of time.
If a Palestinian person is unable to live in Gaza or the West Bank, that person can live in any other country in the world without fear of persecution. The same cannot be said for Jews. Jews have been persecuted in, and expelled from, countries all over the world. In the Arab world alone, nearly a million Jews were expelled and forced to relocate in Israel because they were not able to remain in an Arab country. Israel is the only place in the entire world that Jews can reliably call home. There is no other national, religious, or racial identity that faces such limitations.
Over 20% of Israeli citizens are not Jewish. Muslims, Christians, and others live peacefully within the state of Israel. By comparison, there are an estimated ten Jews living in Egypt. That's not ten percent; it's 10 individual people. There are zero Jews living in Jordan. This is not an accident, nor a coincidence. If Israel were to be destroyed, the Jews living there would have nowhere to go.
Again, in the context of the current conflict, "from the river to the sea" means "destroy Israel". It means "get rid of the Jews". The intent is clear: the speaker of this phrase is calling for the death and destruction of Jews. The phrase cannot be credibly understood to mean anything else.
From the river to the sea literally means the entirety of Israel, therefore a free Palestine from the river to the sea means - no Israel. This is a dangerous, anti-semitic phrase that shouldn't exist.
I respectfully ask that you remove posts that contain “from the river to the sea.” This phrase refers to the murder and elimination of Jews from Israel. It is antisemetic hate speech and has no place in a public forum.
Chanting “from the river to the sea” is an old racist hateful chant that clearly aims to ethnic cleanse the land of Israel from Jews . Since 1948, when the land was given to the Jews and Arabs, instead of embracing the Jews right after the holocaust, the Arabs decided they were going to “finish the job” they the Nazis started .. when they lost the war their genocidal intents were only amplified and the hate propaganda continued with many lies and blood libels against the young Jewish state. Terrorists attacking innocent israelis for just being Jewish barely made it to the headlines around the world but when israelis defend themselves that’s all you can see in the media . “From the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea” is a call to eradicate the Jews living in Israel and not recognizing the right of Jews to live in peace on their one and ONLY land while the Arabs and Muslims have around 54 states all around. To not see this as a racist hateful chant is to create a path for more hate to he soread and make our society intolerable . Yes, there is a big problem in the Middle East but that does not give racists the right to spread their hate and lie about it with impunity . Your responsibility to society is to STOP HATE AND RACISM regardless of your personal opinions on the matter. This goes both ways . Israelis and Jews cannot be allowed to spread hate his the same . This MUST be a bi partisan and non bias issue and should be made crystal clear to everyone that there is no room or debate over racism and hate . Thank you for reading and unpretentious you make the right decision for the sake of humanity. Peace and freedom for all. Abolish hate and racism!
The comment "From the river to the sea, Palestine must be free," is translated to mean the destruction of Israel and all Jews must be killed. This is terrorist dialogue meaning the genocide of the Israeli people. Meta, Facebook, and other social media sites must stop allowing this genocidal phrase. This phrase is what Hamas and other barbaric terrorist groups regularly say, and must not be allowed. It's part of their Jihad dialogue.
Facebook openly promotes antisemitism and shadow bans attempts to bring it in to the light a stop it. Facebook is a 1984 tool of evil propaganda to make 1934 now 2024. Our page @NeverAgainANZ @ACL @CanberraDeclararion are all shadowbanned on such posts.
This phrase is a call for the genocide of the people who are the citizens of Israel, and the eradication of the state of Israel, therefore it should not be allowed to be posted, chanted or any other form.
From the river to the sea should be banned!
Good day Facebook Board,
Greetings!
We have been witnessing anti-Semitism in increasing and various form explode across the globe in recent months, and particularly so in recent weeks. All this is perpetrated under the guise of, and camouflaged by, the supposed fight against alleged ‘genocide’ and ‘apartheid’ policies of the only Jewish state in the world, which are utterly false.
This is fuelling Jew hatred on levels not seen since the Holocaust and is eerily reminiscent of the conditions that were created and that prevailed in the 1930s, before Hitler and his Nazi cohorts prepared for the ‘final solution’ of the Jews. Many ordinary German citizens and citizens of other countries went along with this, either willingly or tacitly, which directly led to the pogrom that followed. Constant demonisation of a people facilitated and led to such a horrific end result.
Sadly, we are again seeing many of the Islamic fundamentalist persuasion and the extreme left elements sworn to tear down every vestige of Western Judeo-Christian civilisation, join forces in a terrifying and dangerous manner to demonise Israel and the Jewish people as a whole, around the world. From the beginnings of so called ‘peaceful protests’ , this has now morphed into outright and blatant hatred, threatening the lives of ordinary Jewish people and their children. Sadly, leaders in the west have been making various excuses to minimise the true impact of this cancer that’s spreading like wildfire, for either political or ideological reasons, and this is tearing apart the cohesion and thus far peaceful nature of western nations.
Social media has accentuated this in a very big way, giving platforms to various antisemites spewing their bile. To add insult to injury, platforms like Facebook are ruthless in suppressing content that does not fit in with the progressive view of the world, but allow the repeated slogans calling for the abolition of Israel and the genocide of its people (for example the utterly racist and hate filled cries of ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’) a free reign, to be treated day and again, thereby radicalising thousands, if not millions of people, already primed and pre-disposed to hatred.
I request Facebook to take a firm stand in this matter and ensure that such a slogan, along with other similar ones are not allowed to appear on your various platforms. There’s also so much untruth and propaganda today, not only about the prosecution and the consequences of the war in Gaza, but also the historic origins of a so called ‘Palestine’ which has never existed in history and is a creation of Yasser Arafat to use this as a thorn in Israel’s side (contrary to all the previous agreements made under the League of Nations entitling Israel to the whole land, with Arabs given TransJordan, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon for their own home) to work towards their elimination. The only truth that has ever come out of Hamas is their goal to destroy Israel and the Jewish people as stated so unequivocally in their founding Charter. Hence the slogan ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’.
Facebook Board, I beseech you to show moral courage and conviction when this is so much in short supply across the world today, and lead the way in turning back this unhinged and dangerous hatred being propagated day in and day out around the world.
I’m hoping that even if my voice is the only one, that you will still pay heed to this and take action which would be a small but decisive step in stopping the threats to not only Israel, but western society as a whole, even as it descends into utter chaos each day.
Thank you so much!
Sincerely,
Ashok
This is the worst Hate speech we've ever seen, and it's evil running ramparted everywhere!!! I agree it should be taken down as it speaks of genocide to all the Jewish people!! I'm appalled by your disagreement to take this down and Ban any more of this Hate!! I Love all of God's Jewish People, that is God's Land and JESUS'S Return is coming Real Soon and he with Stomp out all of this EVIL!!!!!
Everything about these phrases is insightfully antisemitic.
It seems significant that whilst we are in the middle of a brutal war on the Palestinian population in Gaza where Israeli leaders are calling for the eradication of the Palestinian people, an attempt is being made to supress words that call for the freedom of Palestinians.
When the right-wing Israeli Likud party wrote:
“between the Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty.” in their 1977 election manifesto it was clearly a call for the genocide of the Palestinian people who lived between "the river and the sea". Very little controversy seems to have been made about this old Zionist slogan.
When the supporters of the Palestinian people state "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" it's very obviously about the freedom of the people that live in that geographical area, not the eradication of Jews. To claim this phrase is antisemitic or genocidal (whilst we are witnessing and actual genocide against the Palestinians) is disingenuous and a distraction. To attempt to enforce a specific meaning where none is met cannot be the basis of policy. Taking offence cannot form policy.
As the current extreme Right-wing government has rejected a 2 state solution, wanting to maintain the current ethno-religious, nationalist state, any attempt to call for the liberatory, 2 state solution, is seen by them as the eradication of Israel. To have Palestinians living with the same rights as Jews is seen by them to threaten the existence of Israel. Hence calls for a free Palestinian people are seen as offensive, signalling the end of what many human rights organisation have called apartheid. As in South Africa, the system of apartheid has incorrectly become identified as integral to the existence of the State rather than a state of peace.
If X were to ban the posts that the right-wing and their supporters oppose, it would be clearly siding with that position rather than remaining neutral. To claim that writing the phrase in question is to support Hamas consciously or through ignorance is merely an opinion. X claims to be pro-free speech whilst correctly excluding
hate speech from this policy. Is a call for Palestinian liberation hate speech? Are the posts from within Israel which call for the eradication of Palestinians, and the takeover of Gaza by Israeli Jews hate speech?
The opponents of the "from the river" phrase, tell us what the people who use that phrase mean by it, ignoring what the actual intention is. Because it's clearly not used by the majority as an antisemitic chant for Jewish genocide they have to claim that it's users are puppets and pawns at the hands of Hamas. X cannot make policy based on the views of a small but loud minority that are mischaracterising the meaning of that phrase and who, in reality, oppose the liberation that the phrase calls for.
X must stand firm and not cave into a well financed hate campaign that demonises Palestinians and their supporters. It should not take sides and accept false arguments that what we say and what we mean is not what we say or mean. X should not fall for the gaslighting whilst Palestinians are being slaughtered. X must not ban posts or users that write "from the river to the sea".
When I was between 3--5 years old, we got our first black and white TV. When my parents were watching the news, I heard President Nassar of Egypt say, "We will push all Jews into the ocean from the RIVER TO THE SEA. I was so upset that I never forgot it. It is hate speech and a threat to kill all Jews in that area. Such a threat should NOT be on Facebook.
This is an extremely antisemitic comment and means death to all Jews. It literally means wiping the state of Israel and all people in it from the earth. We, the Jews, object!! You can’t allow another holocaust! Be in through language use or encouragement of physical violence, which is what this slogan does.