The Facebook parent company’s oversight board declared that the anti-Israel slogan “From the river to sea, Palestine will become free” was not hate speech.
Meta’s board announced the decision on its official website Wednesday. They argued that certain uses of this slogan could express “solidarity” with Palestinians without “calling for violence or exclusion.”
Meta’s board examined three different posts on Facebook that used the phrase, and noted that none “glorify Hamas or even mention it.”
The board announced that “the phrase is used in different ways by people with various intentions and has many meanings.”
The statement said that “a minority” believed the phrase appeared in the 2017 Hamas Charter and, given the October 7, 2015 attacks, it should be assumed to be glorification for a designated entity.
Certain groups, however, argue that the phrase is antisemitic by nature. On its website, the Anti-Defamation League notes that the phrase calls for the removal of the state of Israel.
It is fundamentally an appeal for a Palestinian State extending from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. This territory includes Israel and would result in the demise of the Jewish State. The ADL says that it is antisemitic to deny the Jewish right to self-determination by removing Jews from their ancestral home.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the ADL said that it “respectfully disagreed” with Meta’s decision.
The use of this phrase makes members of the Jewish community and pro-Israel feel unsafe and isolated. The group stated that there are other ways to support Palestinian rights and justice, such as a Palestinian State. This does not require using the hateful phrase which negates the right of Israel to exist.
