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
It is a statement that actually asks for the destruction of my country.
The Geneva Conventions were updated in 1948 to prevent another genocide such as the Holocaust from ever happening again. The slogan from the river to the sea abets and supports another genocide against the indigenous inhabitants, the Jews, of historical Israel /Palestine. It supports murder, rape and the the war crimes of October 7, 2023. It is a hate statement and therefore needs to be banned to show that the world is against hate.
אני הגעתי לארץ בגיל 16 מצרפת כי לא הרגשתי
בטוחה לחיות כיהודיה שם .אין לי ארץ אחרת ללכת זו.
?הארץ של כל היהודים .לאן אתם רוצים שנלך
The river is Jordan, the sea is the Mediterranean Sea, and in between there are 10 million people - Jews, Muslims, Bedouins, Christian, Buddhists, Baha'i and many more. Nothing between this river and this sea is Palestine.
"Free" what? "free" as in - genocide of 10 million people to make room for Palestinians. Specifically genocide of 8 million Jews. Not much different than hitler calling to to free Germany.
saying "from the river to the sea" is the same as calling for the destruction of the land of ISRAEL and the Jewish people. Whomever uses this so=called- phrase, it trying to be politically correct by using these choice of words, instead of saying the obvious (what I wrote here). It is clear that the people who are saying these words are haters of the Jewish people, and they are well aware if the fact that Jewish people take offense of it, still, they will yell it and say it over and over again, with the intention of inflicting insult, pain, and hate towards a specific group of people (Israelis and Jewish people). Let's be frank, if an African American takes offense of the word 'Nigro' , the Jewish people take offense of this sentence ! USA cannot have double standard as such!
Thank you for taking the time and reading my pled.
The phrase means to take the land in total - from the river to the sea. The only way that happens is to annihilate Israel. It’s hate. Doesn’t belong on Facebook or threads or anywhere.
Hello, thank you for this opportunity to express my concerns about people using the sentence "from the river to the sea" without possibly realising that they are actually calling for annihilation of the people of Israel and of the country of Israel. Those words promote hate, violence and wishing death to other people. Please, check all the facts and consider seriously forbidding posting such content.
Thank you,
Milena Shalom
For me the phrase means that all Palestinians should have the same rights and equality.
A phrase that has been used for decades, and has been hijacked by the Likud party whose constitution states similar wording but for an ethno Nationalist State.
I am concerned that the phrase/slogan has been weaponised by ethno nationalists who have labelled it as AS when used for Palestinians.
Palestinians are Muslim, Christian and Jewish or of no faith. It is an inclusive phrase/slogan and as a person born under South African Apartheid I'm cencerned that politicians, some MSM and influences are trying to suppress the slogan to deny the rights for all Palestinians.
When the ISJ, ICC and human rights organisations are concerned by the breaking of international laws, Geneva Convention, Genocide Convention and other laws including Israeli laws banning this slogan will only serve one purpose. Denial of treating all Palestinians with rights and dignity and silencing voices.
Please support free speech the silencing, shadow banning and cancelling culture is surpressing our fundamental rights.
We know that powerful pro zionist voices are suppressing free speech, right to protest and attacking people standing up for human rights FOR All globally.
The fact that you are consulting on this phrase itself makes me fear the MacCarthyism that has gripped social media and the western world in general.
The swath of land in Israel "From the River (Jordan) to the Sea (Mediteranean)" that would be destroyed if its proposers got what they want would mean the obliteration of the entire Stae of Israel itself. Anyone chanting and operating to take over the land is in favor of obliterating the tiny State of Israel - the size of New Jersey - the only Jewish State in the world, created by the United Nations, at a time when that body was a moral voice. Israel is surrounded by many vast Arab lands that certainly have enough deserts of their own and don't really have any use for the deserts of Israel. The chant is really a call for the obliteration of the State and its people - Christians, Arabs, Jews, Bahai, Mormons etc. etc - who today strive to live side by side. We have seen videos of many people who don't understand what they are demonstrating for. The phrase itself is a genocidal call to action and should be banned.
Posts should not be permitted
The quote "from the river to the sea Palestinian will be free" Is very offensive and
Anti-Semitic and cancels the right of the Jewish people to live in a free and democratic country which was given in accordance with the UN resolution.
The phrase defines that there is no place for Jews in the Land of Israel. Jews are the original people who lived here 3000 years ago and representatives continued to live here throughout the period. The fashion today to ask for the extermination of Jews lies in this expression. After all, if they had imposed this on any other nation, millions would have risen up and demanded justice. Only Jews do not have the right to self-determination to live in their own country.
To me the words "from the River to the Sea" doesn't only call for the destruction of Israel but rather as a starting point for killing all the Jews. This phrase is always connected with calling for violence against Jews, as calling for an intifada (terrorist attacks against civilians) is connected to the phrase.
By calling for the destruction of Israel the next question is where are the Jews to go? Answers vary from I don't know & I don't care to calling for our deaths. Sometimes this call is direct that it will only happen when we are all dead, as Palestinian leaders have pledged multiple times to push all the Jews INTO the sea, and the context is describing rivers and oceans of blood. While others are indirect by telling us to return from where we came from. Problem is there are those of us whose families never left Israel while a vast majority are being told to return to a country they fled in order to survive.
To summarize, this line is a violent threat against a minority, Jews, who comprise .2% of the world population.
Stop racism and antisemitism. Ban From River to the Sea - slogans
POSTS THAT INCLUDE “FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA” is a call to genocide of the Jewish people and annihilation of Israel, the only democratic country in the Middle East and a beacon to the world for tolerance and inclusivity. Allowing this slogan trivializing the complexity of the region and issues and does not educate the ignorant, especially the young and impressionable of the issues. It incites to violence and clearly falls into the camp of hate speech and should be banned. Please do the right and moral thing and ban this slogan from all your platforms. If you allow this slogan on your platforms it will forever taint your platforms as supporting antisemitism and hate. Please do the right thing.
Bernie Goldberg
Ontario, Canada
Changing the meaning of words and weaponizing them to serve a government ethnically cleansing an entire population doesn't change the meaning of the words or the gross human rights violations committed by that government. The claims that "from the river to the sea" are hate speech toward Jewish people is ludicrous. It's the responsibility of institutions like Meta to reject false claims, claims that obscure atrocities the state of Israel is actively committing. Furthermore the language of 'from the river to the sea' is in the charter of the ruling Israeli political party, the Likud, comprised of extremists, and was a declaration to take the British colony of Palestine from the population that lived there and build an ethnostate of immigrants. When Palestinians use the phrase it is a call to free them from the oppression they are so brutally subjected to, as they have been and currently are subjected to ethnic cleansing, land theft, and annihilation. Adopting the weaponized redefinition of words from a fascist state is actively supporting Fascism and the eradication of the Palestinian people, a Semitic population, and the theft of their land, livelihoods, human rights, and lives. Shame on Meta for entertaining such blatant manipulation of slogans while ignoring the realities.
Additionally as a company perhaps your focus should be moved from legitimizing bad faith arguments manufactured by political PR firms that distract everyone with semantics to how as a company you can avoid assisting a government in ethnic cleansing and mass atrocities.
Many people don't realize, that "from the river to the sea" means from River Jordan to the Mediterranian Sea. Unequivocally, saying that Palestine will be free "from the river to the sea" means speaking in favor of the extinction of the state of Israel and the performing genocide against the Jews living in it.
This principle is one of the core principles in the Hamas Covenant of 1988 (as cited from article 7 below):
" ...the Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to the realisation of Allah's promise, no matter how long that should take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: "The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him... " "
The following sentence is also cited at the beginning of the Hamas Covenant:
"Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it" "
"From the river to the sea" says exactly the same, using neutral words.
We request you to view this issue with open eyes, and not to let nice words mislead your rational judgement.
Reference:
The Hamas Covenant (1988). In: https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp
Remove posts with this phrase. It strongly indicates that Israel and its Jewish population should be eliminated.