Amazon chairman Jeff Bezos has been criticized by a New York state legislator over the company's decision to continue allowing the sale of merchandise featuring the controversial pro-Palestinian slogan "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free."
In a letter to the online retail giant's chief on Thursday, seen by Newsweek, Charles D. Lavine, a Democratic assemblymember for Nassau County and chair of the state's National Association of Jewish Legislators chapter, urged Bezos "to use your position of authority to direct that Amazon NOT be involved in the sale or distribution of these death glorifying items."
"The overwhelming majority of Amazon shareowners and customers would be nauseated," the chairman of the state legislature Judiciary Committee wrote. He added: "You may as well sell clothing bearing the words 'Kill all Jews.'"
It comes after Newsweek highlighted 10 instances of garments bearing the slogan being sold by vendors on the platform—including one which was listed a day after the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants, which caused the deaths of around 1,400 Israelis, many of whom were civilians, according to the Associated Press.
An Amazon spokesperson previously said that the products "do not contravene our policies," which prohibit the sale of products that "promote, incite, or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual, or religious intolerance."
Newsweek approached Amazon via email for comment on the contents of Lavine's letter on Thursday.
"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 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, though. 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."
A pro-Palestinian protest in Austria last month was banned by police as the chant was mentioned in invitations, Reuters reported, but one pro-Palestinian legal organization recently claimed that an appeals court in the Netherlands had ruled that it was "subject to various interpretations" and did not necessarily relate to Jews.
Lavine wrote in his letter that "the entire world witnessed on October 7 the primitive acts of murder and viciousness that are at the very heart of the 'from the river to the sea' movement."
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 is based. To date, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says 9,601 Palestinians have been killed, the AP reported.
Last month, the message, among others including "glory to our martyrs," was projected onto the wall of a George Washington University (GWU) building. StopAntisemitism, a hate watchdog, said the "horrifying" projections were "glorifying Hamas terrorists."
The university said it called campus police when it became aware of the incident as it "violated university policy," and that the messages "in no way reflect the views of the university."
Correction 11/03/23, 3:00 a.m. ET: This article was updated to amend Jeff Bezos's role at Amazon from CEO to chairman.
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