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 is explicitly stating that the state of Israel should be wiped out in its entirety (since the state of Israel's area spreads from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea.
With today's climate of hateful speech against Jews in the world and against the state of Israel, "From the River to the sea, Palestine will be free" is also an implicit call for violence, Whether an individual believes it to be a call for freedom is not the issue at hand, you shouldn't feign ignorance and claim that this statement has no Antisemitic properties.
The moral thing to do is to ban this statement and push protests towards a calm and honest protest if they choose their path.
From the River to the sea, has one meaning only: Antisemitism !!
Explanation:
Why and what river?
Why and what sea?
You cannot disengage the context that it is the Jordan river, and the Mediterranean sea !!
What lives between them ? The state of Israel!!
Continues chanting or any post the includes this phrase is always continued by the words "Palestine will be free" I haven't heard anyone shouting "Israel will be free", hence this is calling for the destruction of Israel. Israel is the Jews state, hence all this is purely Antisemitism. World has gone mad, very very sad.
The slodan from the river to the see Palestine wiil be free reflects an expression for the removal or elimination of the Jewish state and the Jewish people and creates growing hatred and antisemitism among Muslims and in general.
I find the statement "from the river to the sea....." very offensive. it is a calling for the annihilation of the state of Israel and the murder of all of it's civilians - jaws, Muslims, Christians without exception. it is violent and usually used in an anti-semitic context.
removing this content from the virtual space will make everybody's life safer, more pleasant and all-n'-all better.
thank you
The phrase "from the river to the sea" is a political slogan associated with Palestinian nationalism. It refers to the area from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea, which encompasses both Israel and the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The slogan is been used to express the desire for a Palestinian state in the entirety of what is now Israel !!!
This is a call for the elimination of Israel!!!
How can it not be clear enough????
כשורדת שואה בת 89 אני נחרדת מהביטוי מהנהר אל הים, שמשמעותו הפרקטית שלא תהיה ולו פיסת אדמה קטנה לעם היהודי שנטבח במליוניו רק לפני 80 שנה. ב 7.10 ארע פה טבח, והיו בו פשעים מאורגנים ביד מכוונת הדומים בסגנונם לשואה, שריפת אנשים ובתים, אונס, רצח, כריתת איברים וחטיפת בני אדם חפים מפשע. מקווה שדבריי יגיעו לדירקטוריון פייסבוק כקול של ילדה בת 4 שאביה נרצח בשואה והיא זכתה לתקומה במדינה קטנה שבין הים לנהר. תודה, לאה חסון
The phrase refers to the explosion of all Jews living in Israel, it also suggests that said explosion shall be carried out via any means necessary.
Had there been any specific calling for cease fire, co existence, etc. I could understand.
These phrases keep popping up in my feed and what scares me most is that they are not removed, it keeps on snowballing with people echoing it without knowing what it means.
I have considered quitting Facebook several times over this, as it feels like it has become a hotbed for antisemitism and Jew hatred.
I hope you ban these phrases alltogether so people can communicate safely on your platform.
Hello,
From the river to the sea means no to the existence of Israel. This old slogan calls for the destruction of Israel and the expelling of jews at best.this is well known. I am sure that a post calling for the destruction of Gaza and the west bank would be terminated immediately..
This is a blunt call for violence and destruction.
This is clear as the sun!
Regards,
Oz
the slogan from the river to the sea calls for the death of the Jewish people that have no where else to go. it gives a legitimate stamp to the actions that hamas did on the 7 of October and on many occasions before.
The state of Israel legaly resides between the Jordan river and the mediteranean sea.
Please refer to Hamas declared public statement and you will find that it strongly rejects any coexistance with Israel.
So ,
how on earth settling 5 million palestinean "From the river to the sea" can be a peaceful , legitimate call for action?
Thank you
“From the river to the sea” is a call for the violent destruction of Israel and the creation of a Muslim state in its place. The only way to achieve such a state would be to expel or kill most or all of the Jewish inhabitants of Israel. Thus, it falls squarely within the UN’s definition of genocide. The US Congress has recognized this as anti-semitism. It is an anodyne formulation of the phrase “death to Israel.”
“From the river to the sea” ( which most protesters don’t even understand)
means eliminating the State of Israel.
this is similar to Nazi Germany wanting to eliminate all Jews.
The said statement, refers to the area that includes the sea, west to Israel, and the Jordan river, across the east border of Israel.
According to this, the Palestinians claim all of the said land to themeselves.
It raises a painfully simple question. Let’s say this happens, let’s just wonder that, where does the Jews go?
There are only 2 solutions
Massive deportation (and which country will agree exactly on that? Is there any other Jewish country in the entire world?)
Or Genocide of the Jewish people. Like the Nazis did on World War II, or Hamas tried to do on 7.10.
At the end of the day, both those example together proves the point, that the only thing the statement “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” refers to, is the genocide of the Jewish people.
Therefore, this statement should indeed get banned from usage, as its a clear call for genocide.
dear Oversight board,
my name is Peleg Zaiden, Im 20 years old, living in Netanya that in Israel.
Today I want to share with you the feelings that im feel every time I come across the abominable call: "from the river to the sea (palstine will be free)".
This ugly sentence is a nice way to say that "we want to destroy Israel, we ready to kill you and your family, all the people that we cant sucssesd kill in the 7.10.24, we will do E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G."
a lot of my friends death in the 7.10, this sentence make me feel that i will be the next.
please, STOP IT!
thank u about the place to to express myself.
The use of the sentence”from the river to the sea…” is Antisemitism declaration because it is against the UN decision in 1947 and literally call for the destruction of the state of Israel. That why it should be banned and those who use it should be bandied from Mata and other network apps
The original phrase in arabic is "from the river to the sea palestine will be arab" hinting a call for acts of violence and ethnic cleasning against a population of millions of jews.
This chant is used alot in protests in which terrorists and acts of terrors against civil population are normalised and glorified. This is a point blank call for violence. There are many ways to sympathize with palestinians that are not hinting and or calling for violence and hatred.
Between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea exists the State of Israel.
The call "From the river to the sea Palestine will be free" means the destruction of the state of Israel and the murder of the entire Jewish population.
Any claim that this statement has a different meaning is a complete lie that comes to hide the anti-Semitic desire to exterminate the Jews and the State of Israel, the only Jewish state in the world.
לדעתי הקריאה הזאת היא נגד היהודים והיא קריאה אשר משתמשים בהם כדי לקרוא לרצח יהודים הם לא רוצים מדינה כמו שהם אף פעם לא רצו הם רוצים להרוג לכן הקריאה הזאת היא אנטישמית נקודה
אם הם היו רוצים מדינה הם לא היו רוצחים ופוגעים כי הם יודעים שככה לא יהיה להם מדינה
אני בעד שכל משפט כזה יוחלף בהחזירו את החטופים הישראלים
(כן הם חטפו גם מוסלמים)
מדינת ישראל היא מדינת של שיון זכויות לכולם וגם המדינה יהודית איך זה קורה בזכות הערכים היהודים שתומכים בחיים ותומכים במערב
תודה ושלום
Antisemitism and Zionism as well as from the river to the sea is equal and should not be allowed on social media