‘From river to sea’ not always hate, Meta rules

JTA – Pro-Israel groups decried a ruling by Meta’s independent oversight body on 4 September 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 that 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 organisations, 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 legitimise antisemitism and the violent elimination of Israel and its people, it’s 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 Palestinian territories. It has proven popular in pro-Palestinian messaging online and at in-person demonstrations. In the six months following the war’s outbreak, Facebook experienced a 50-fold increase in the use of the phrase, according to the Oversight Board.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which regards the phrase as an inherently antisemitic attack on Jewish existence in Israel, called the Oversight Board’s conclusion “short-sighted”.

“Usage of this phrase has the effect of making members of the Jewish and pro-Israel community feel unsafe and ostracised. 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 directly critical view of the issue, attacking the board and its rationale. The group argued that the phrase is a “violent call to genocide” in a white paper when the board solicited input about the issue in May.

“It shows conscious bias that some on the Meta Oversight Board use twisted logic and verbal contortions to protect antisemites,” said Sacha Roytman, the group’s chief executive.

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 organisation.

The minority believed that content moderators should default to presuming the slogan represents a “glorification of Hamas, a designated organisation, and be removed unless it’s clear that the content using the phrase doesn’t endorse Hamas and its aims”, according to the Oversight Board.