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
The phrase referenced is a call to clear the state of Israel from Jews, and one which is being used by antisemitic people thus shouldn’t be allowed to be used on Facebook.
If we receive this expression it means that the jews will be thrown to the sea .israel is the only country that they can live there . The Palestine's can live where ever they want in more than 20 Arab countries .not only that there is no Palestinian there are Arabs and Jews who lived together in a place that the British called it Palestine name that the Roman’s gave to the country that was Judea
"From the river to the sea" means from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean sea. This area covers the entirety of Israel. Calling for the establishment of another state over this area means that Israel stops to exist. For Israel to stop to exist, 7.5 million Jewish people must be murdered and ethnically cleaned.
Therefore, the call "From the river to the sea" is a call for genocide.
Israel has as much right to exist as any another state in the world.
Historically, Jews have lived on this land for 3,000 years consecutively.
Legally, Israel has been established following a UN decision in 1947. Before that, there was no sovereign state in the area. There was a British mandate, given by the league of nation, as a temporary control over the land; the British were given the mandate, in order to establish the Jewish national home in that land - as it used to be in the past. Before that, the land was controlled by a multitudes of empires. There was never a state called "Palestine". "Palestine" was merely a colonialist name for the geographic area which used to be Judea (first the kingdom of Judea, later the province of Judea).
Morally, Israel is a democratic state, with freedom level equaling the freedom of any modern Western state.
"From the river to the see" means no more Israel and only one country instead, Palestine.
Even the UN decided for a two-state solution in 1947, and that is the goal to reach for all the pacifist, including me.
About the borders, this will be decided around a negotiation table, as must be always.
In my opinion, the expression "from the river to the sea" is a political expression, encouraging hate against the Jewish people.
We see it around the world, especially in the U.S, pro-Palestinian protesters calling out for the destruction of Jews, chanting this expression.
There is no place for such wordings on Facebook, or on any social media whatsoever.
The point of Social media is to bond people, encourage love, humor, education not hate.
As long as this sentence is allowed to be written on social media, the hatred towards Jewish people will continue to spread and grow.
This needs to end, do not allow this madness to spread on your behalf.
Establish a definition of which river and which sea is referred to in this statement. Once you can establish that clearly, please check to make sure that it is not a call to entirely wipe out or overrun an existing Democratic country.
From the river to the sea means for me the annihilation if my people, my family. When people shout or write from the river to the sea Palestinian will be free they mean the elimination of the state of Israel.
How would you think that they achieve that... By massacring all the Jews from their homeland.
It is a violent call for genocide of my people my and family.
"From the river to the sea" had become the battle cry of Anti-Israel protests that call for final solution and ethnic cleansing of Jews and Christians from the last and only country in the Middle East that still has vibrant Jewish and Christian populations.
It is a call to the Radical Islamic colonization and genocide of Jews in their indigenous home parroted as an antisemitic celebration to Hamas's initial genocidal terror attack of October 7th.
Never again is now.
The phrase" From the river to the sea " calls for the elimination of the State of Israel and genocide of the entire jewish population in the country. "From the river" meaning the Jordan river from the north at the Syrian border to Eilat along the Jordan border. " to the sea " means the Mediteranean Sea, Israel's maritime border. You must ban to use this sentence that calls for the etermination of the jews.....
This is a call for violence! It is all hate and should not be permitted. Just look at the people screaming this sentence. They burn flags and call for Intifada which is armed 'revolution' against the Jewish people.
The term 'From the river to the sea Palestine will be free' calls for the total eradication and genocide of every Israeli citizen. It is not a nuanced term, as all terrorist groups have clearly, and repeatedly stated this is their war cry for the destruction of the state of Israel. It is reprehensible.
It calls for the destruction of the Jewish state. Should not be allowed to use
The phrase "from the river to the sea" is highly problematic and should be avoided, as it implicitly calls for the elimination of the State of Israel. This rhetoric suggests that the entire territory, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, should be under a single rule, thereby erasing Israel's existence as a sovereign nation. Israel, like any other country, has the right to exist and live in peace. Using such expressions promotes a dangerous narrative that could encourage violence, extremism, and terrorism against Israelis. It is crucial to support peaceful dialogue and such phrases should be prohibited
מקורו של העם היהודי מארץ ישראל, עובדה ידועה לכל. לאחר שנים בתפוצות ושואה אחת נוראית (תודות ,
( לתורת הגזע ומפיציה
שב העם היהודי למקורותיו. כמעט 70 שנה אחרי, מרימה ראשה תורת הגזע בדגש על יהודים בתלבושת של הגנה על עם אחר ומנסה בכל ובעזרת מילים כגון מהים אל הנהר לבצע שוב את זממה. אם העם הקורה לעצמו פלשתיני היה נוהג כמנהג העולם החופשי, המערבי והליברלי ומדבר בשפתו כבר מזמן היה פה שלום והייתה להם מדינה. לא כך המציאות נוהגת, ברבריות, טרור במסווה של מלחמת קיום ושנאה, שנאה שאין לה סוף נוכחים במזרח התיכון ודוהרים בקצב מדאיג גם למקומות אחרים בעולם. כל מי שאינו רואה זאת ונסחף ל"מחאה" הכל כך לא תמימה , שותף להפיכת עולמנו לאסון נוראי. במקום להפעיל לחץ על הטרור מנסים להפוך את נציגיו לקורבנות ולהטביע את מדינת ישראל על הדרך. כמה עצוב שהעולם עיוור לרוע, שנאה ואענו מבדיל בינו לבין פעולות הגנה. עצוב, עצוב , עצוב
From the river to the sea is an imperialistic fraze, trying to deport Israel from its land.
It is a pure propaganda and should be stopped
This call referred to a very specific are of land and was coined with a very specific interpretation and intention. This phrase can not be explained due to its connotation by any other way besides the extermination of all Israeli (Jews, Arabs and Christians who are citizens of the state of Israel) there for it should be considered as a hate and violent call and should not be allowed on FB
"From the river to the sea" has been chosen by terrorist organizations, to expel the Jewish people from their traditional and lawful country -Israel - and encourage terror acts to enforce it.
Meta should by no means allow terror propaganda to be posted!!!
יש לאסור את השימוש בביטוי “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free״
כי משמעו השמדת מדינת ישראל על כל יושביה, כמו שלא ניתן להשמיע קריאות בדבר השמדת מדינות אחרות כך גם לגבי ישראל. לקבוע דין אחד לישראל ודין אחר ליתר המדינות משמעו אנטישמיות, כפי שמתרחש בפועל ברשתות החברתיות ובעיקרן פייסבוק שמתירה פרסומים מסיתים נגד העם היהודי ונגד ישראל.
רבים מהמשתמשים בביטוי הם חבורת צעירים בורים שלא בקיאים כלל בסכסוך הישראלי-פלסטיני, שחושבים לעצמם שהם מאוד נאורים ונלחמים למען צדק, אבל בתכלס לא מעניין אותם בכלל מה קורה בעזה, זה פשוט מגניב לתמוך במיעוט.
השימוש בביטוי הזה פוגע ברגשות בעם היהודי ומאוד לא מקובל, ואין לנסות לפרש את זה באופן אחר, אין פרשנות נוספת, וכוונת הביטוי היא ללא ספק קריאה לרצח יושבי מדינת ישראל.
אמירה שבתכוה טמונים מסרים שמעודדים אלימות, אנטישמיות,רצח וכיו"ב. שגורם לא רק ליהודים ושיראליים כלא גם לשלל אזרחים בין שקשורים לנושא ובים שלא להרגיש אי ביטחון ואי נוחות להתגורר באיזורי המחאות הללו
אמירה שבתכוה טמונים מסרים שמעודדים אלימות, אנטישמיות,רצח וכיו"ב. שגורם לא רק ליהודים ושיראליים כלא גם לשלל אזרחים בין שקשורים לנושא ובים שלא להרגיש אי ביטחון ואי נוחות להתגורר באיזורי המחאות הללו