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 is an antiemetic anti Jew propaganda.
this sentence means to me that as an Israeli Jew I cannot live in my country Israel.
The river to the sea includes all of Israel territory. It actually means that my home is not my home. After the holocausts and in the past few weeks the antisemitism against Jews has risen up. There is no place for us jaws other than Israel. This sentence delegitimize my right to live in Israel. or to live at all
This phrase is calling for a Palestinian country from the Jordan River to the sea. Means - no Israel (as this is the whole country). This is what Hamas is shouting for and this is why there is war - they don't want the Jewish people in Israel. Not at all. How it should be done ? By killing them all.
So yes, this phrase is calling for the elimination of Jewish people in Israel
It is pure antisemitism and killing all the jews and the state of Israel.
To whom it may concern,
Across history antisemitism prejudice has proved to be a shape shifting type of prejudice, from blaming the Jewish people for the death of Jesus, then persecution for having a different religion from the majority in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, followed by Jews are responsible for the Black Death, Jews are traitors, to Jews pollute the arien blood.
History and geography has proven that antisemitism is shape shifting to the current common accepted “evil” that destroys humanity. So today, it is the colonial “white” oppression of indigenous community in the name of justice.
Zionism is the notion that the Jewish people will only be truly safe from persecution in their country, in the promised land of the Jewish people.
The evidence for Jews returning to their indigenous homeland stems from history if one only looks for it:
In ancient history, there were several Jewish kingdoms. The most notable of these was the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah, both in the historical region of Canaan, modern day Israel.
The Kingdom of Israel was believed to have been established around the 11th
century BCE and existed until it was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire in
722 BCE.
The Kingdom of Judah emerged as the southern part of the earlier united monarchy and is traditionally dated to around the 10th century BCE. It lasted until the Babylonian conquest in 586 BCE.
Hasmonean Kingdom: The Hasmonean Kingdom, located in the region of judea, emerged around 140 BCE when the Jewish Hasmonean dynasty led a successful rebellion against the Seleucid Empire. Upon the Roman Republic extending its conquests, in 63 BCE, the Roman Empire entered Jerusalem, effectively ending Hasmonean rule. Judea was then placed under Roman client kings. Herod the Great, a Roman client king, ruled Judea from 37 BCE until his death in 4 BCE. In 6 CE, Judea was reorganized into a Roman province known as Judea, and this period marked the beginning of direct Roman rule in the region.
The First Jewish-Roman War (66-73 CE) and the Second Jewish-Roman War (132-136 CE) led to significant conflict between the Jewish population and the Roman Empire. The latter war resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the suppression of Jewish revolts. Following the Roman victory in the Second Jewish-Roman War, a large number of Jews were killed, and many others were dispersed throughout the Roman Empire. This dispersion is often referred to as the Jewish Diaspora, as Jewish communities were established in
various regions outside of Judea.
From this historical data, one can accept that the only legitimate home for the ethnoreligion group of the Jewish people is the lavant, because it was the place of 3 previous Jewish kingdoms before their exile.
There are 2 crucial reasons why chants as “from the river to the sea” should be determined as antisemitism and hate speech.
The first, is that “from the river to the sea Palestine will be free” designates the Jewish state of Israel as illegitimate, denying its right for existence, denying the Jewish people the right for self determination in their ancestral homeland. In fact, it suggests the Jewish people have no place between the river and the sea as a self determining people. The essential aspect is the context to way, the Jewish people are an oppressive colonial attempt to steal a land, instead of a successful decolonisation campaign of an indigenous group of people, returning to their home.
The second reason, is that the mass majority of Jewish people across the world define themselves as zionists. And because “from the river to the sea” legitimacy leans on the believe that Zionism is evil, it creates a portrayal of mast majority of Jews as evil. Further more, even an official American public representative, ilhan Omar, has said “I support all Jews to feel safe, both those protesting genocide and those who are pro- genocides”, attributing anti-Zionist Jews, a small Jewish minority, as the good, and the Zionist Jews, the vast majority, as evil. Additionally, chants like “Gas The Jews”, “Hitler should have finished the job”, spraying swastika grafities (the Nazi party’s symbol), violating Jewish memorials like amy whinehouse’s statute in London, covering her Star of David with a Palestine flag, or even worst, violating holocaust memorials, are often seen and heard in correlation with the chant “from the river to the sea”. The context in which this sentence is used is highly important, because it’s not only stripping the Jewish people’s right to exist in their land, it is also used as a tool portraying the mass majority of Jews as the worst type of current public accepted evil, just as antisemitism has done in the past.
I’d like to conclude with some statistics concerning the increase in antisemitism across the world since October 7th, 2023. In a report published by the world jewish congress on holocaust Memorial Day, after October 7, in the USA, according to the report, there was a 360% jump in anti-Semitic incidents, in Canada the figure is higher - 733% and in Australia 433%. In Sweden there was a very sharp jump of 800% in anti-Semitic incidents Those reported since the terrorist attack by Hamas, in Spain there was a jump of 680%, in the Netherlands 450%, in the United Kingdom 442%, in France 433% and in Germany 207%.
The connection between antizionism and antisemitism are not as clear as people would like to believe, and pretending that chanting “from the river to the sea” stripping Israel’s existence from the earth is not complacent, is irresponsible and should be addressed. It is our duty to protect and keep the promise of never again.
Thank you,
Edrei Cahill.
FTRTTS is a call for freedom for Palestinians, from the river to the sea. The entire world is demanding the end of the annexation, occupation and brutal killing of Palestinians by the Israeli state. Palestinians especially those in Gaza have no where to go, they have no freedoms, the way not just Israelis but foreigners do. American Jews, for example, have more luxury to come and enjoy the freedoms of the country of Palestine/Israel, in ways that Palestinians do not. They have lost most of their country due to Zionist settlers, who storm into towns and villages and demand people evacuate their own homes. When they do not, they are killed. Palestinians have no right to go back and live in their own country because of the Israeli settlement. How is this still allowed in today’s world? How have international powers not stepped in to stop this cycle of violence?
Why are we even discussing whether Palestinian people and those who support them can use the phrase ‘from the river to the sea’. Why are we insulting the rightful and morally justifiable fight for humanity, by creating stories that words mean something they do not. The words that call for freedom are being demonised while thousands are slaughtered in the most inhumane conditions. How have we even elevated the use of a phrase to have as much power and meaning as the actual killing of an entire people. To surface this as an issue is only a distraction and serves as the desperate engineering of victimisation of the oppressors. While we waste time discussing the assembly of a few words, Israel will have killed 100 more people at least. Please let’s move beyond this immediately and begin the important work of dismantling an apartheid, and saving the lives of over a million people.
This phrase "from the river", which is in Israel (Gaza does not have any river in its territory), "to the sea" (red sea I believe, locates in South of Israel) means Israel does not have the right to be a state.
It was sang by Israel haters only, whom wants to see destroyed.
Please don't give them the right to say such things against my country. The country they "want" to leave in.
Given the USA has banned this language as clear call for the eradication of Israel and Jews around the world the language should be banned on platform. As a Jew I feel threatened when I see this used on platform and tolerance for it to be allowed just gives those antisemites more gumption that they can say it.
"From the river to the sea" explicitly calls for the removal of Israel's sovereignty over its legal territories that go beyond Palestine's West Bank and Gaza. On Oct 7th, Hamas have made their intentions regarding the Jewish citizens of Israel very clear: They butchered, raped and kidnapped innocent civillians from their homes.
The heinous crimes committed by Hamas clearly show that "from the river to the sea" means the ethnic cleansing of all Jews who live between the Jordan river and the Middle sea. Therefore, such calls for violence should not be tolerated on social media.
From the river to the sea means elimination of Israel. And Jewish people. Used by terrorists and there proxies in the universities campuses and in protests against Israel protection of their nation
From the Jordan river to the Mediterranean Sea depicts the borders of colonial Britain Palestine. Current Palestinian advocates that want to “free” that region mean they want to “free” it from the Jewish state. It’s an active call to the annihilation of Israel. Looking into pro Palestinian accounts and posts you will see that the entire territory that includes Israel and Palestinian Territories alike is dyed in the colours of the Palestinian flag as to say- all this is Palestine and will be freed. Aka Israel shall not exist.
The posts that include the sentence are heard in the context of a desire to eliminate a nation, a call to violence and diversion. This causes damage to populations and encourages extremists to express themselves without barriers.
Israel exists and legally governed from the Mediterranean sea to the Jordan River.
It has an anthem, a flag, culture, history and much much more.
Asking to free Palestine on the same land is asking to remove my country from the map.
By removing me, my family and my history.
There are over 9 million Israelis, living in Israel, calling for an end to Israel is calling to an end of these 9 million people.
You can not just ask for a country to become a different country!
Palestine was never an official country, and was officially renamed Israel by the WORLD!!!!
The people who are referred to as Palestinians are descendants of Jordanian and Egyptian refugees who also lived on the same land almost a 100 years ago.
Some of them are Israeli citizens with equal rights and the rest have their own governments and lands.
Gaza and the West bank are recognized as the State of Palestine, and they are free to do whatever they want on their lands, the rest is Israel.
My home.
The State of Palestine also exists between the Mediterranean and the Jordan river, and if any freedom is violated in the State of Palestine, calls for freeing it should be directed to its own governments!
Yes, there are ancient disputes about the land. But all that is Israel, is recognized and undisputed by the World!
We all know that the chanting “from the river to.the sea” means calling to genocide of Israelis. All Israelis Jews, Christians and Muslims. As we could see in massacre on October 7. Israel civilians were murdered just because they were located “between the river and the see”. The posts tgat include “from the river to the sea” call to genocide of Israelis and have to be removed.
"From the river to the see Palestine will be free"
It is a very nice slogan it sounds good and have good rhyme. However, what does it mean? Which river? What see?
If we open the map of Israel, we can understand that it's mean from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean see. In this "area", there are now, side by side, the Palestinian authority (the West Bank) and the state of Israel. Under no historical maps UN decisions and so, the Palestinian authority can be established between the river and the see.
Therefore, the meaning of "From the river to the see Palestine will be free" is very simple, the total destruction of the state of Israel. According to this slogan, the state of Israel will no longer exist. If we are talking about genocide, than "From the river to the see Palestine will be free" Is a call for genocide. "Free Palestine" is a legitimate call but not "From the river to the see".
Kind Regards,
MP
Hi.
As a Jewish and Israeli human being, every day I’m scrolling through my feed at Facebook, graphic post of Hamas propaganda is shown. I’m not following those pages, they just popped up because of the algorithm. It makes me feel that antisemitism is all over the place, people commenting things like “israel is new nazis” or sending other “blessing” and wishing me and Jewish people death. The absurd that meta is not blocking those comments and people! When i say to meta this is antisemitism they says it’s okay due to facebook rules. Such a shame.
Antisemitism at is ugliest. Calls for the anihlation of the Jews and of the State of Israel
The slogan "from the river to the sea" is viewed as anti-Semitic because it suggests erasing Israel as a Jewish state, stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. Most people who are using it are ignorants who don't know what is the "river" and where is the "sea", also don't know that Israel is the only democracy in the region, protecting gay rights, all religions and 20% of the population in Israel are Arabs.
This text is interpreted as denying the Jewish people their right to national self-determination. Moreover, the phrase has been associated with calls for violence and eradication (GIHAD and INTEFADA), echoing genocidal threats on Jewish people all over the world.
POSTS THAT INCLUDE “FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA” Must be deleted
It's call to murder people
The term "from the river to the see" when used in reference to the israeli-palestinian conflict clearly calls for the extermination of Israel as it describes that the whole area between the medeternian sea and the Jordan river - which is today divided between the two nations - should belong only to Palestinians! Which means that the Israeli people needs to go from their home land.