Oria Brodutch 4 year old hostage held by Hamas (BringThemHomeNow)
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, seems to think that the phrase “From the River to the Sea” is not a form of hate speech; even though, the phrase means that Israel should not exist and has been used by ant-Israel protestors around the world since the October 7 Hamas massacre in support of the terrorist organization.
“From the River to the Sea” is the rallying cry for those who want the entire area located between the Jordan River to the east and the Mediterranean Sea to the west to be made into a Palestinian State. This could only happen should Israel be destroyed.
Meta’s Oversight Board, which was established by the company’s founder Mark Zuckerberg himself in 2020, said “From the River to the Sea” did not violate Meta’s Community Standards, and that “the company was right not to remove them.” The Board, which was established to deal with the problems of hate speech proliferating on the company’s platforms like Facebook and Instagram, claimed that the phrase contained “contextual signs of solidarity with the Palestinians and did not call for violence or exclusion, or glorify or refer to Hamas, designated by Meta as a Tier 1 dangerous organization.”
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“While it can be understood by some as encouraging and legitimizing antisemitism and the violent elimination of Israel and its people, it is also often used as a political call for solidarity, equal rights and self-determination of the Palestinian people, and to end the war in Gaza,” said Meta’s oversight board in its decision.
Meta said that the use of the phrase “From the River to the Sea” surged on Meta’s platforms, with tens of thousands of additional posts following the October 7 Hamas terror massacre in which more than 1,200 innocent people were murdered, including entire families. English-language posts containing the phrase saw a fiftyfold increase on Facebook in a six-month period, according to an independent analysis commissioned by the Board. Arabic content using the phrase doubled during this time.
“There has been an unacceptable and deeply disturbing rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia on- and offline, with widely reported rises in assault, vandalism and harassment. Social media companies have a clear responsibility to ensure they do not fan the flames of hate,” said Oversight Board co-chair Pamela San Martin in explaining the decision. “But context is crucial. Simply removing political speech is not a solution. There needs to be room for debate, especially during times of crisis and conflict.”
It should be noted that the Meta Oversight Board includes several members who have been vocal in their hostility toward Israel. One is Tawakkol Karman, from Yemen, and another is the British journalist Alan Rusbridger.
