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 calls for an elimination of the state of Israel in its entirety. It calls for the destruction of the only Jewish country in the world. This is not a peaceful chant; it is extremely vile.
✅ From the river to the sea is a call for the violent destruction of Israel and the creation of a Muslim state of Palestine 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. It is an anodyne formulation of the phrase “death to Israel.”
The phrase from the river to the sea calls for the elimination of the State of Israel and the genocide of the only primarily Jewish country on the planet.
This phrase means nothing left than total annihilation of Israel and of Israelis. And annihiliation of Jewish people in that area and elsewhere in the world.
Similar calls to free Palestine and other things are comparably related to Hamas’ stated desire to eliminate the Jewish people. A desire shared by terrorist organizations like Hamas. And Iran. And hezbollah.
“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” pro-Palestinian activists chanted in the volatile aftermath of Israel’s bloodiest day. Adopting or defending it can be costly for public figures. Everyone should understand that this slogan means - Israel should not exist
This statement is a call for not only the eradication of the country Israel but also the elimination of all jews from their homeland
This phrase refers to the extinction of Israel and the genocide of Jews. It is cited in Hamas Charter
The toxic phrase “from the river to the sea” is a call for the destruction of Israel. This is clearly an unacceptable form of hate speech against a country and a religion.
Israel and Jewish people are directly linked. Calling for destruction of one of these is calling for the destruction of the other.
Comments relating to this phrase should immediately be deleted and the poster should be permanently banned from Facebook.
This statement is a call for the entire state of Israel, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, to be destroyed. It is a call for Jews to lose their homeland and be eradicated. Simply put, this statement is antisemitic.
I believe that when Hamas put this slogan into their charter in 2017 it wasn’t just a call to destroy the sovereign state of Israel but to also commit genocide on Israelis. As such I feel that it is extremely triggering and antisemitic
I simply don't understand how this is even up for debate. The slogan "From the River to the Sea" is a genocidal call to action! It is calling for not only the eradication of the State of Israel but DEATH of EVERY SINGLE PERSON THERE! That includes all Jews, Muslims, Druze and Christians that live there! It also follows with the word Intfada which calls for a violent uprising and death to ALL Jews everywhere which is the definition of a genocide (the purpose to wipe out an entire population of people). PLEASE STOP THE HATE! This phrase incites violence, it does not deescalate anything. It makes Jews everywhere feel attacked and unsafe because it calls for the death of every single Jew everywhere starting with Israel. YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
“From the river to the sea” is not anti-semetic. Its a cry for freedom from the people of Palestine who are being murdered daily by Israel and the IDF.
I support Meta's interim decision to allow the phrase "from the river to the sea" with respect to Palestine, and the longer phrase, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." As the Oversight Board has noted, the phrase has a long history. I see at least three interpretations of the phrases that seem perfectly legitimate. One is simply to say that the Occupied Territories (West Bank and Gaza) should be free. A second is to say that in addition, Palestinians within Israel should have equal rights. A third is to say that Israel and Palestine should become a single secular state in which people of all heritages and religions should have equal rights. These are certainly controversial views, but none of these seems to me antisemitic or in other ways inappropriate.
Calling for an “intifada” and/or “from the river to the sea” constitutes antisemitism. A integral part of the Jewish religion is the connection of the Jewish people to Israel, the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people. This is in the Torah. Calling for the destruction of the state Israel (the only Jewish state in the world) or the eradication/expulsion of Jewish people from the land of Israel is antisemitic. Calling for an intifada is calling for violence against Israel and/or the Jewish people and is also anti-Semitic. Calling Jewish people “colonizers” of their ancestral homeland is also anti-Semitic and accusing the Jewish people of genocide is an antisemitic trope. Please do not allow any of this hate speech on your platform. Allowing this hate speech against zionists, Israel and the Jewish people is allowing and encouraging Jew-hatred and antisemitism.
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free is a call for the elimination of the state of Israel. It is a rallying cry for terrorist groups and their sympathizers. It calls for the establishment of a State of Palestine from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, erasing the State of Israel and its people- essentially a call for genocide.
“From the River to the Sea” is a phrase used to call for the violent elimination of Jews and the State of Israel. It refers to the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea which happens to encompass the State of Israel and homeland of the Jewish people. There is no other explanation.
This phrase has been used time and again by groups such as the terrorist organization Hamas that do not believe the state of Israel has a right to exist. It expresses the desire to eradicate Israel and all Jews who live there and replace it with a Muslim county free of Jews. As a Jew I am horrified by the amount of acceptance this phrase has received in spite of the majority of Jews expressing time and again how threatening we find this phrase. No other ethnic group has ever been told by other groups what phrase they should feel hurt by, neither should Jews. We are telling you it is a genocidal phrase and that should suffice for it to be banned from civilized conversation.
From the River to the Sea is a threat to kill all Jews living in Israel. It is pure Jew hatred & is taken as a threat to Jews.
From the River to the Sea is horrible hate speech that promotes violence. It gas no place on Facebook, Instagram or any social media.