Courtesy of JTA. Photo credit: Thierry Monasse/Getty Images
A sign reading “From the river to the sea” can be seen in a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Brussels, Belgium, Jan. 21, 2024
(JTA) — Pro-Israel groups decried a ruling by Meta’s independent oversight body Wednesday that social media posts containing the phrase “from the river to the sea,” a longstanding Palestinian rallying cry, shouldn’t be automatically removed.
The Oversight Board, a Meta-funded panel made of experts and lawyers overseeing content moderation for Facebook and Instagram, ruled the phrase can continue to be used as an expression of solidarity with Palestinians as long as it’s not accompanied by calls for violence, praise for dangerous organizations or what company policy considers hate speech.
In its ruling, the board said that because the phrase can have multiple meanings, the context in which it is used must be considered.
“While it can be used by some to encourage and legitimize antisemitism and the violent elimination of Israel and its people, it is also used as a political call for solidarity, equal rights and self-determination of the Palestinian people, and to end the war in Gaza,” the board said.
The slogan is a reference to the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea encompassing the State of Israel and the Palestinian territories. It has proven popular in pro-Palestinian messaging both online and at in-person demonstrations.
The ruling runs counter to the view advocated by many Jewish groups that have been fighting rising antisemitism on social media since Hamas attacked Israel in October and Israel subsequently launched an ongoing military operation to dismantle the terror group in Gaza.
The Anti-Defamation League, which regards the phrase as an inherently antisemitic attack on Jewish existence in Israel, called the Oversight Board’s conclusion “short-sighted” in a statement posted to social media.
“Usage of this phrase has the effect of making members of the Jewish and pro-Israel community feel unsafe and ostracized. There are many ways to advocate for Palestinian justice and rights, including a Palestinian State, without resorting to using this hateful phrase, which denies the right of the State of Israel to exist,” the ADL wrote.
Another advocacy group, the Combat Antisemitism Movement, took a more critical view of the issue, attacking the board and the rationale it laid out in its ruling. The group argued the phrase is a “violent call to genocide” in a white paper when the board solicited input about the issue in May. It was one of 2,400 groups and individuals to weigh in, according to the Oversight Board.
“It shows a conscious bias that some on the Meta Oversight Board use twisted logic and verbal contortions to protect antisemites,” Sacha Roytman, the group’s CEO, said in a statement.
The Oversight Board’s ruling noted that a minority dissented from the decision based on the fact that the phrase appears in the 2017 charter of Hamas, a group designated by Meta as a dangerous organization.
The minority believed that the content moderators should default to presuming the slogan represents a “glorification of Hamas, a designated organization, and be removed unless it is clear the content using the phrase does not endorse Hamas and its aims,” according to the Oversight Board.
“The Board finds there is no indication that the comment or the two posts broke Meta’s Hate Speech rules because they do not attack Jewish or Israeli people with calls for violence or exclusion, nor do they attack a concept or institution associated with a protected characteristic that could lead to imminent violence,” the board wrote in its ruling.
Meta acknowledges removing posts featuring the slogan in some cases, including in response to requests from the German government, which has declared that it is associated with Hamas. In the United States, meanwhile, the House of Representatives earlier this year declared the phrase antisemitic.
