Meta’s oversight board rules anti-Israel slogan ‘From the river to the sea’ is not hate speech

Meta’s independent Oversight Board ruled Wednesday that the controversial, anti-Israel slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is not hate speech.

Users of Meta’s Facebook and Instagram apps can continue to use the slogan in their posts as long as the posts do not include other context that glorifies Hamas or calls for violence, the board said in a majority decision. 

The slogan, which Jewish groups have criticized as inherently antisemitic, calls for a Palestinian state stretching across the land in between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea – the land currently occupied by Israel.

Some board members disagreed with the Wednesday decision and argued that the phrase should be understood as an inherent glorification of Hamas since the phrase appears in the 2017 Hamas charter.

The board looked at three cases in which users reported posts using the phrase and ruled that the posts did not break Meta’s hate speech rules because they did not explicitly call for violence against Jewish or Israeli people.

“Instead, the three pieces of content contain contextual signals of solidarity with Palestinians,” the board said.

“We welcome the board’s review of our guidance on this matter,” Meta told The Post in a statement. “While all of our policies are developed with safety in mind, we know they come with global challenges and we regularly seek input from experts outside Meta, including the Oversight Board.”

“From the river to the sea” is not a new saying, but it has become a popular chant at pro-Palestinian protests since the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel by Hamas, which led to Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza strip.

Israeli and Jewish advocates have decried the use of the phrase, which Hamas adopted to call for the violent destruction of Israel. 

“Palestine is ours from the river to the sea and from the south to the north,” Khaled Mashaal, Hamas’ former leader, said in a 2012 speech in Gaza. “There will be no concession on any inch of the land.”

The Anti-Defamation League said it “respectfully disagrees” with Meta’s board’s decision. 

The league said the phrase is an antisemitic call for a Palestinian state from the river to the sea – which “would mean the dismantling of the Jewish state.”

“It is important to note that demanding justice for Palestinians, or calling for a Palestinian state, should not mean, as this hateful phrase posits, denying the right of the State of Israel to exist,” the ADL said.

Some Palestinian activists have said the phrase is not a call for the destruction of Israel, but for Palestinian freedom and equality after years of Israeli military rule.

Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan – who was censured by the House last November – has argued in favor of the phrase.

“From the river to the sea is an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate,” Tlaib tweeted in November.

One of the posts reviewed by Meta’s board showed the phrase made out of floating watermelon symbols. Social media users have adopted watermelon emojis as a pro-Palestinian symbol.

The post was viewed 8 million times and reported 951 times, the board said.

The other two cases were viewed by fewer people.

One was a comment encouraging people to “speak up” about the conflict and another was a share of a post by a pro-Palestinian organization, the board said.

“Because the phrase does not have a single meaning, a blanket ban on content that includes the phrase, a default rule towards removal of such content, or even using it as a signal to trigger enforcement or review, would hinder protected political speech in unacceptable ways,” the board ruled. 

More than 2,300 people and organizations submitted comments after the Meta board announced it would be reviewing the three cases in May. 

It is the second-highest number of comments the board has received on a case review since it discussed suspending former president Donald Trump from its platforms in 2021.

The board consists of journalists, lawyers and free speech advocates from across the world.

The board even includes Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the former prime minister of Denmark. 

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg created the board in 2019.