Members of Meta's Oversight Board have criticized Israel over Gaza --
before deciding 'from the river to the sea' isn't hate speech
Thomas Barrabi
7–8 minutes

Several members of Meta’s Oversight Board – which faced intense
criticism after it determined the anti-Israel phrase “from the river to
the sea” doesn’t constitute hate speech – have espoused views critical
of Israel’s actions in Gaza.

The advisory board, which claims to be independent from Meta, determined
that Facebook and Instagram users can use the controversial slogan –
which has sprung up at anti-Israeli protests around the country – as
long as it is not used in a way that glorifies Hamas or calls for violence.

Founded in 2020 with approval from Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg, the
Oversight Board currently consists of 21 members who “come from a
variety of cultural and professional backgrounds, speak more than 30
languages and are chosen to be reflective of the diverse users of
Facebook, Instagram and Threads,” according to its website.

Yet past remarks by several members call into question their ability to
remain impartial regarding the slogan, which refers to the idea of a Palestinian state stretching across the land in between the Jordan River
and Mediterranean Sea – the land currently controlled by Israel.

Its members include Tawakkol Karman, a Yemini activist and Nobel Peace
Prize Laureate, who declared in a speech last May at the Vatican that
the “world is silent in front of the genocide and the ethnic cleansing
of the Palestinian people in Gaza.” Israel denounced her speech as “flagrantly anti-Semitic.”

Protestor holding a sign reading 'from the river to the sea' outside
Radio City Music Hall during a Palestine protest on March 28, 2024
Critics say the slogan “from the river to the sea” fuels anti-semitism. Jonah Elkowitz for NY Post

Alan Rusbridger, the former editor-in-chief of left-leaning UK news
outlet The Guardian, penned a column earlier this year arguing that,
while “real and vile antisemitism” does exist, the “horrors of 7 October most certainly did not happen in a vacuum.” He also weighed in on the
debate over “from the river to the sea.”

“Some even thought the chant worthy of prosecution. Yet Netanyahu
recently pronounced that Israel “must have security control over the
entire territory west of the Jordan River” – thereby wiping out the idea
of a state of Palestine. Is one sayable, and the other not?” Rusbridger wrote.

Oversight Board
Meta’s Oversight Board has 21 members. oversightboard.com

Nighat Dad, the director of the Pakistan-based Digital Rights
Foundation, accused Facebook in a 2018 column of caving to Israel by “silencing the voices of a historically victimized people for calling of
what can rightfully be called an occupying state is confirmation of the influence that some governments have on Silicon Valley tech giants.”

Endy Bayuni, an Oversight Board member and senior editor at the Jakarta
Post, penned a column last April that argued Indonesia “should be seen championing an independent Palestinian state and full membership of the
United Nations.”

The Oversight Board did not reveal which of its members had participated
in the vote or a tally of how many had voted for and against the
decision. The Post has reached out to the board for comment.

Other notable members of the board include former Denmark prime minister
Helle Thorning-Schmidt, former United Nations spokesperson Khaled
Monsour and Mexico City-based human rights lawyer Pamela San Martín.

The board acknowledged that a minority of its members dissented to the
decision and pointed out that the phrase “from the river to the sea”
even appears in the Hamas terror group’s charter.

Mark Zuckerberg
Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg is pictured. AP

“A minority of the Board finds that Meta should adopt a default rule presuming the phrase constitutes glorification of a designated
organization, unless there are clear signals the user does not endorse
Hamas or the October 7 attacks,” the board’s statement on the ruling said.

Meanwhile, a majority of the board’s voters felt the phrase “has
multiple meanings and is used by people in various ways and with
different intentions.”

“Context is crucial,” said San Martín, who serves as co-chair of the board. “Simply removing political speech is not a solution. There needs
to be room for debate, especially during times of crisis and conflict.”

The group said its decisions are “made by panels of five Members and
approved by a majority vote of the full Board” and noted that the
decisions “do not necessarily represent the views of all members.”

Of the 21 members named on the Oversight Board’s website, just one is an Israeli.

Emi Palmor is Jerusalem-born lawyer and former director-general of
Israel’s Justice Ministry who was part of the team that negotiated with
Hamas for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit following his
notorious abduction in 2006. Her parents survived the Holocaust as children.

Emi Palmor
Emi Palmor is the lone Israeli on Meta’s Oversight Board.

In a March 2021 interview with Jewish Insider, Palmor said she had
joined to Oversight Board in part to lend her “perspective as a Jew on
issues of antisemitism or on issues of genocide.”

The Combat Antisemitism Movement, a watchdog advocacy group, called the Oversight Board’s decision “absurd” and said it would fuel the spread of antisemitism online.

“’From the River to the Sea’ is a slogan created with the sole vision of destroying the national homeland of the Jewish people,” CAM CEO Sacha
Roytman said in a statement. “It is genocidal in intent and meaning, and
is not a legitimate political or ideological vision, because it targets
the one Jewish state and its inhabitants for destruction.”

Meta
Meta’s Oversight Board said users can use the slogan as long as it is
not used in a way that glorifies Hamas or calls for violence. REUTERS

In May, CAM submitted a white paper to Meta’s Oversight Board outlining
its position on why the slogan should be banned.

“It shows a conscious bias that some on the Meta Oversight Board use a twisted logic and verbal contortions to protect antisemites,” added
Roytman. “We sent them the history and context of the phrase and how it
was invented and used solely as a call for genocide by those who have
openly and proudly called for the murder of Jews everywhere.”

“There is no amount of context or twisted logic that can excuse this outrage.”

The World Jewish Congress said it was “profoundly disappointed” in the decision.

“The phrase ‘From the River to the Sea,’ part of the charter of the terror group Hamas, is a clear call for violence against Israelis and
the Jewish world at large,” the WJC said. “Jews around the globe have
the absolute right to live freely as Jews, and Meta’s decision does
nothing to defuse explicit antisemitism. Words matter, especially in the aftermath of October 7.”

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