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
"From the river to the sea" means arabic state on all territory of former Palestine or, another words, erasing of Israel from the map, destruction of Israel. Because of millions of people live in Israel this slogan means that 8 million of people will have to leave their home and relocate. They won't do it with the good will that's why a lot of them will be under peessing and violation. So, this slogan calls to violation over millions of people and has to be avoided. In my humble opinion
hello, thank you for the chance to hear my opnion.
the fraze : "from the river to the sea" means to destroy israel.
the river is the west bank of the Jordan river and the sea is the Mediterranean sea.
which in this area should be one day 2 countries , Israel and palestine.
Therefore this expression is including hidden messeges if destroying Israel and create only one country .
As you know the basic logic of people is different from each region in the world.
Therefore the middle east logic is to destroy israel by this words!!!!
thank you
In 1933, Hitler announced the extermination of the Jews
Today in 2024 the meaning of the phrase is to destroy the Jewish state
This sentence calls to kills all the jews.
שלום רב
אבקש למנוע את המשפט
מהנהר עד לים
המשפט הזה מפחיד
והגדרת פחד משמעו טרור
המובן של המשפט זה שפלסטינים יחבשו את כל האזור מנהר הירדן עד לים התיכון
ונאמר על ידי מנהיגי טרור שמטרתם לזרוק את היהודים לים
הדבר מפחיד
והדבר מעורר שנאה
ומעורר את הטרור
מבקש למנוע את השימוש במשפט הזה
המון תודה מראש
שמעון
On reading or hearing the sentence: FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA in the context of Palestinian will be free-
It literally means that it a wish for me to leave my homeland, my land that of my ancestor, it's is written in the Bible and in the Kuran.
More than that, it means the which for me to die.
Please, Please remove this sentence from the platforms, so I will not need to see everyday the hatefull wish for me to die.
More details:
FROM THE Jordan RIVER TO THE Mediterranean SEA - it's exactly the Israel border - means- wipe Israel at all.
Palestine was never exist!. It's a term of the British mandat.
For the false claim - that Israel should be free from Jews - so what its the homeland of the jews? where it is on the map?
The current Palestine people are refugees from many other arabs country. You can see by their names that indicate their origin.
This pharse is calling for the destruction of the state of Israel and should be removed from the web permanently. Do you know what is between the river and the sea? The state of Israel. So this phrase should be removed permanently from all platforms.
Hey,
The term "From the river to the sea" serves as a concise expression of the sentiment "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." It is frequently employed by those who reject Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state (acknowledging both Israel's presence from the river to the sea and Palestinian Authority territories). Consequently, it can be interpreted as endorsing violence against Israelis and Jews as a form of resistance to Israel's existence.
Claiming that this term does not inherently advocate violence and depends on context is akin to suggesting that phrases like "Arbeit macht frei" or symbols like the Nazi flag can be interpreted variably depending on circumstances. For radical Islamists and anti-Semites, the intended meaning of such expressions is clear.
According to the recently emerging phrase "from the river to the sea", a COUNTRY WHICH DOES NOT EXIST AND NEVER HAVE EXISTED, should take over land from a legitimate, AND EXISTING, country.
If that should happen, someone who is not the state of israel would conquer the land of israel.
One can assume that this act will not be conducted in any friendly manner what so ever towards the Israelis - who are mostly Jews but also Muslims (!), Christians, Cherques, Druze and more (!).
In other words, it is pretty evident that those who chose to use this expression are calling directly for a genocide to occur against Israel in the name of a non-existing country.
This is not only upsetting because there is no such place and never existed on a map and in the list of countries, a country named Palestine, but also it is horrifying and very worrying that such a big crowd of ignorant people are given legitimacy to call for genocide in mainstream channels. This should not be allowed rather restricted and penalized for!
Hi,
I think Meta should forbid using that sentence. Even though these are just words if we not attach context, we all know what they mean and what is the general purpose. As an Israeli, I feel intimidation all the time and wonder why Meta allows to publish a sentence calling to kill Israelies.
Israel is the legitimate state between the river and the.
By call for Palestine to be free from the river to the sea, you are call to eliminate Israel.
That is a call for violence and should not be supported.
Hamas and the war that the lunched against Israel is an ideology that starts at home by the parents and continues through schools where the kids are thought to hate and kill Jews. There are no innocent people in Gaza, they all left when Hamas took over.
I hope that you will see the light and not allow to promote negative messages that call for violence.
This means destroy Israel and kill all Jews.
How come , a call, to athnicly cleanse the only country on the middle east that didn't do ethinoc cleaning to Jews (or to anyone, how come Muslim in Isreal have more holidays and are the fastest growing part in the population for decades now) and is the native land of the Jews and Isrealites is not considered hatespeach ?
As an Israeli citizen I find this phrase very offensive people across the world are chanting for ethnic cleansing my country, calling for the annailetion of Jews state by calling "from the river to the sea Palestain will be free."
It is an assault in the social media community. i am affraid and feeling unsafe these days.
when I see this phrase it make afraid of others wish to kill me and my people
The hashtag "From the river to the sea" is widely perceived as a slogan advocating for the elimination of the State of Israel and denying its right to exist as an independent Jewish state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. The intent behind this phrase is alarming and dangerous, as it implies eradicating Israel and endangering the lives of millions of Jews living within its borders.
To understand why this slogan is so troubling, it is essential to recognize the region's history. Israel was founded following a 1947 UN resolution to divide the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean into two states: one Jewish and one Arab. Before Israel's establishment, Jews immigrated to this territory, then an underdeveloped province of the Ottoman Empire, with a population of only around 400,000 people. By the latter half of the 19th century, the Jewish population in Jerusalem had grown, eventually becoming the majority in the city.
A Palestinian state or a distinct Palestinian people never existed as a sovereign entity. After an extensive investigation by a UN committee into the region's demographics and politics, it was decided to create two states: Jewish and Arab. However, following this decision, the Arab inhabitants of the area rejected the proposal and started a war against Israel.
After Israel declared independence in May 1948, and as a result of the Arabs in Israel failing to eliminate the Jewish population, the armies of Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon also invaded Israel in an attempt to destroy the newly established state but failed to do so. Egypt took control of what is now the Gaza Strip, and Jordan occupied what is now known as the West Bank. In 1967, when Egypt, Syria, and Jordan tried to destroy Israel, Israel successfully won the Six-Day War and captured these territories. These regions are now governed following peace agreements.
The hashtag "Palestine will be free" is the first half of the slogan, which continues as "From the river to the sea," implying a complete removal of Israel. The statement asserts that even the territories where the UN decided a Jewish state would be established are considered occupied. This slogan promotes the idea of eliminating the Jewish state, which would lead to horrific conflict and aligns with fundamentalist Islamic ideology that any land once under Muslim control must return to Muslim rule, even if it was initially conquered by Muslims.
In the current global context, freedom of expression remains a vital principle, as it once protected individuals criticizing monarchs and governments. However, today, misinformation spreads through social media networks, and generations of Arabs educated under authoritarian regimes have been fed a steady stream of anti-Semitic blood libels and lies about Israel worse than Nazi propaganda in the 1930s.
This misinformed mass is now using social media to disseminate these lies further. Algorithms that prioritize engagement amplify these distortions worldwide. On platforms like Twitter, individuals can profit from spreading anti-Semitic blood libels and lies, while Israeli voices sharing their genuine experiences often see their posts removed due to false reports from bots or brainwashed masses.
I encourage you to visit Israel and see the reality firsthand. The only body truly aware of the conflict on the ground is the Israeli Defense Forces, as Israel fights for its survival against Iran, Qatar, and the terrorist organizations they fund. Israel faces daily rocket fire from Gaza, Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon. If Israel falls, fundamentalist Islam would gain significant strength, and Iran would effectively control the Middle East.
There is a battle here between liberal democracy and oppressive theocracy. Israel did not occupy any land but purchased territories legally from Arab landowners, the Turkish Sultan, and others, eventually building kibbutzim and cities and finally establishing a state after gaining UN approval.
Israel recognizes the right of Arabs living in the West Bank and Gaza to an independent state that acknowledges a Jewish state and lives in peace with it. You must understand that since the 1973 oil crisis, when Arab nations realized they could not defeat Israel militarily, they aimed to sever Israel from the United States as a strategy to destroy it.
Since the establishment of Al Jazeera in 1996, Qatar has spent billions influencing American universities, employing faculty members aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood's ideology. These faculty members and Qatari funds have taken over Middle Eastern studies and humanities departments, creating pseudo-scientific lies about Israel that shaped generations of academics to believe Israel is a colonialist power.
In reality, Israel fought for independence from the British Empire. Colonialism refers to European imperial conquests, exploitation of natural resources, and mistreatment of local populations. Israel has done none of this.
Instead, Jews migrated legally, having been a persecuted minority in Europe and Arab countries for years, and returned to the land where the Jewish nation was born.
Know that many of those who today identify as Palestinians are Arabs who immigrated to Israel/Palestine from Egypt, Syria, and other countries due to economic opportunities created by the establishment of many factories by Jewish immigrants and the development of the land during the British Mandate period. Until 1948 and certainly until 1917, you will not find the term "Palestinian people" in newspapers or literature. The Palestinians are Arabs who lived in Mandatory Palestine. You must support the idea of a two-state solution: one Arab (which will be called Palestine) and one Jewish (Israel) that will live peacefully side by side. If this happens, the Middle East, and the whole world, will enter a period of prosperity.
You must strongly oppose the idea of a single Arab state (there are currently 17 Arab states) in the area between the Jordan River and the sea and the denial of the Jewish state. The only country whose native language is Hebrew.
Supporting the hashtag "from the river to the sea" is supporting the Holocaust of eight million Israelis who were born and raised here and built Israel, turning the Holy Land into a stronghold of fundamentalist Islam.
In conclusion, Spiderman (or rather, his Jewish creator Stan Lee) said that with great power comes great responsibility. I beg you, please take responsibility, and even if it hurts Meta's profit margins, be on the right side of history and do not support the hashtag "from the river to the sea" which in fact denies the only place of refuge for the Jewish people. The only place in the world where Israelis can speak their mother tongue, the only place in the world where religious Jews can walk safely without fear of being attacked in the street.
Support peace, not an idea that promotes the abolition of the State of Israel, the state of a people whose only desire was to live in safety in their own state. Support Palestinians who accept the existence of Israel as a Jewish state, not Palestinians who deny its existence. In doing so, you will save the lives of millions of victims.
My dream is that the best Israeli minds will not have to deal with how to develop missile defense systems that intercept missiles fired at Israeli citizens, or minimize the damage to Palestinians living above a missile launcher, but with stopping global warming that threatens us all. I wish this was the problem that threatens my existence and the existence of my people, I am sure that if we free ourselves from the problems of the desire of a third of humanity to destroy us, we will solve the other problems together.
You Meta have a huge responsibility and you must ban this hashtag which means the abolition of a liberal, democratic and just state that was established according to law. A state that is the only place where Jews can live in the Middle East. A country that just wants to do good in the world and not force anything on anyone. If only you would read Hebrew and really understand who we are, you wouldn't believe even one of the thousands of lies that the Islamists spread about us all over the world in order to destroy us.
From the river to the sea is the slogan of hamas, and it calls for the destruction of a country and death of it's people
It doesn't mean peace or human rights for Palestinians or anything positive, it's a hateful, violent call even if westerners who say it mean positive things... it's like saying zieg Heil is a call for unity... they are slogans of hate
-“From the river to the sea”
אי אפשר להתייחס לביטוי מבלי ההקשר שבו הוא נאמר, כי הרי ביטוי זה נאמר רק בהקשר של הסכסוך הישראלי-פלסטיני ולא בדיונים או הקשרים אחרים. הכוונה בביטוי היא אל אותו המקום הפיזי שבו תהיה המדינה הפלסטינית החופשית-
בין הים לנהר (from the river to the sea)-
וכנראה שלא מדובר בנהר המיזורי או הים הסיני. ברור שמדובר על השטח שבין הים התיכון לבין נהר הירדן, שהוא שיטחה של מדינת ישראל. הקריאה למדינה פלסטינית בתוך שטח מדינת ישראל, גם מבלי לומר את המילה ישראל, זהה במהותה לקריאה למחוק את מדינת ישראל ואת החיים בה.
ישראל היא מדינה המזהה עצמה כיהודי. העובדה שרבים מהפרו-פלסטינים אשר משתמשים בביטוי הנ״ל משתמשים גם בביטויים אנטי ישראליים/אנטי ציוניים/אנטי יהודיים, מחזקת את הטיעון המוצדק והברור שביטוי זה קורא להסתה ואלימות כלפי אוכלוסייה גדולה ועם שלם.
I feel that anti-Semitism is gaining momentum especially on social networks through posts and statements that do not correspond to reality.
The meaning of saying "from the river to the sea" means erasing Israel from the map and it encourages extremists and young teenagers to behave violently towards Israelis.
It is clear that this is an extremist group that is not really aware of the situation and supports a terrorist organization whose entire goal is to wipe out the Jewish state and as a Jew I am afraid to fly on vacations.
I am submitting you to highly coceder and take into account that From the river to the sea is a call fovthe genocide of the Jewish people in Israel, it's offensive and demoralizing.
I thank you for your efforts.