A number of online sellers on Amazon are offering garments bearing the controversial phrase "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," which several Jewish groups see as an antisemitic chant.
Newsweek has found at least four instances of T-shirts bearing the slogan available in the U.S. and five such listings in the U.K., as well as a hoodie version sold by the same store offering three of the T-shirts. Most of the items became available for sale between May 2021 and August this year. However, one was listed on October 8, the day after Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing an estimated 1,400 people including civilians, according to the Associated Press.
An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment when approached by Newsweek, as "these products do not contravene our policies," which prohibit the sale of products that "promote, incite, or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual, or religious intolerance."
They also pointed to an October 10 statement by Amazon CEO Andy Jassy in which he described the attacks on Israeli civilians as "shocking and painful to watch," and added that he hoped "peace arrives as soon as possible."
"From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" is a chant commonly voiced at pro-Palestinian rallies. However, it is contentious because it implies support for the dismantling of the Israeli state, as it references the Jordan River on Israel's eastern border and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Hamas, the militant group armed and funded by Iran, adopted the slogan following its formation in the 1980s.
The American Jewish Committee says that, while calling for a Palestinian state is not antisemitic, calling for the elimination of Israel can be taken to be. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's working definition of antisemitism includes the example of "denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination."
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a U.S. hate watchdog, describes the chant as "an antisemitic slogan" as it "den[ies] the Jewish right to self-determination, including through the removal of Jews from their ancestral homeland." It says that usage of the phrase can make Jews "feel unsafe and ostracized."
Others deny the chant necessarily always amounts to hate speech. On October 20, London's Metropolitan Police said that while it could "envisage scenarios where chanting these words could be unlawful, such as outside a synagogue or Jewish school, or directly at a Jewish person," in the context of a protest it "would not be an offence and would not result in arrests."
However, Suella Braverman, the U.K. home secretary with responsibility for policing, wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "The slogan was taken up by Islamists, including Hamas, and remains a staple of antisemitic discourse. To hear it shouted in public causes alarm not just to Jews but to all decent people. Those who promote hate on Britain's streets should realise that our tolerance has limits."
Earlier this month, police in Vienna, Austria, banned a pro-Palestinian protest, citing the fact the phrase "from the river to the sea" was mentioned in invitations and characterizing it as a call to violence, Reuters reported.
The European Legal Support Center, which provides litigation for pro-Palestinian activists, said that, in the Netherlands, an appeals court recently ruled that a Dutch activist who made the chant at a 2021 rally could not be prosecuted. This was because it was "subject to various interpretations" and did not necessarily relate to Jews. Newsweek could not immediately verify this.
Likud, the right-wing Israeli political party, used a version of the phrase in its founding platform in 1977. "Between the Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty," it said.
Amazon policy states that products or content "that promotes hate, incites violence or intolerance or advocates or discriminates against a protected group," including "national origin" are prohibited.
"We understand that what one person considers offensive may not necessarily be offensive to others and that views can change over time," the company has previously said. "It is also important to recognize that something may be disagreeable but may not violate our policies."
The "from the river to the sea chant" has received renewed scrutiny as pro-Palestinian protests around the world have grown in response to Israeli military intervention in Gaza, where Hamas are based. Israel has said its aim is to eliminate the organization.
Last week, the message, among others, was projected onto the wall of a George Washington University (GWU) building. Pictures posted online by anti-hate watchdog StopAntisemitism showed phrases including "Glory to our martyrs," "Divestment from Zionist genocide now" and "Free Palestine from the river to the sea" projected onto the side of the Gelman Library in the Washington D.C. university's Foggy Bottom campus.
The watchdog said the stunt had been conducted by students, and that the "horrifying" messages were "glorifying Hamas terrorists."
GWU said the messages "in no way reflect the views of the university" and that its leadership intervened when it became aware of the projections as they "violated university policy."
As of Tuesday, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says 8,306 Palestinians have been killed so far in Gaza, according to the Associated Press, while a further 122 have been killed in violence in the West Bank.
Update 10/31/23, 10:14 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include a response from an Amazon spokesperson.
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