Representative Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, received backlash on social media from fellow politicians and organizations that fight against antisemitism after posting a video on Friday that featured the chant, “from the river to the sea” as the Israel-Hamas war continues.
The term “from the river to the sea” has a different meaning for different groups, but the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a Jewish advocacy group that combats antisemitism, defines it as “a call for a Palestinian state extending from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, territory that includes the State of Israel, which would mean the dismantling of the Jewish state.”
On October 7, Hamas led the deadliest Palestinian militant attack on Israel in history. Israel subsequently launched its heaviest-ever airstrikes on Gaza. According to Israeli officials, 1,400 people in Israel were killed in Hamas’ attack, the Associated Press reported, while 9,488 Palestinians have been killed since Saturday, according to officials from the health ministry in Gaza, the AP reported. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his country is “at war” and has cut off supplies of food, fuel, electricity and medicine into Gaza.
Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American in Congress, posted a video to X, formerly Twitter, on Friday asking President Joe Biden to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, which the congresswoman and other progressive members of the House have been pushing for since Israeli forces began bombarding Gaza following Hamas’ surprise attack.
Jemal Countess/Getty Images
In the video posted by Tlaib, Pro-Palestinian groups are seen protesting across the United States, including a group in Michigan that chanted, “From the river to the sea.”
In a follow-up X post, the Democratic congresswoman wrote, “From the river to the sea is an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate. My work and advocacy is always centered in justice and dignity for all people no matter faith or ethnicity.”
Newsweek has reached out to Tlaib via email for comment.
The chant included in the video sparked outrage on social media.
“Terrorist Tlaib is promoting the genocide of all Jewish people in Israel and calls it aspirational. ‘From the river to the sea’ means to wipe out all the Jews and take their land from the river to sea. You should resign and go to Gaza and fight on the front lines for Hamas,” Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican who recently failed in an attempt to censure Tlaib, wrote on X on Saturday.
Representative Byron Donalds, a Florida Republican, wrote on X, “From the river to the sea is a rallying call for the erasing of the State of Israel. If that’s aspirational to you, that’s a problem. Stand With Israel.”
“From the river to the sea refers to the full erasure of the Jewish state, from Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. It is also the battle cry of Hamas, a savage terrorist group that beheads babies and rapes women. You echo terrorists,” StopAntisemitism, a nonprofit aimed at combating antisemitism, wrote on X.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a lobbying group for pro-Israel policies, wrote on X, “First Tlaib refused to condemn Hamas. Then she promoted Hamas lies. Now she’s amplifying Hamas sympathizers who call to wipe Israel off the map.”
George Conway, a former Republican lawyer, replied to Tlaib’s explanation of the chant and wrote, “I don’t think Hamas agrees with you on this.”
Juliette Kayyem, former Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) wrote about Tlaib’s post on X, “Whatever she thinks she might claim in her textual construction, she knows how the Jewish community understands it. That should be enough to refrain.”
Newsweek reached out to Greene, Donalds, the White House, and AIPAC via email as well as StopAntisemitism and Kayyem via X direct message for comment.
Others on social media defended the congresswoman’s view of the chant.
Nimer Sultany, a lecturer in law at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, explained earlier this week to Al Jazeera that the term “free” in this context expresses “the need for equality for all inhabitants of historic Palestine.”
“Those who support apartheid and Jewish supremacy will find the egalitarian chant objectionable,” Sultany, who is a Palestinian citizen of Israel, said. “It’s important to remember this chant is in English and it doesn’t rhyme in Arabic, it is used in demonstrations in Western countries. The controversy has been fabricated to prevent solidarity in the West with the Palestinians.”
Meanwhile, X user Waleed Shahid wrote: “Palestinians living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea simply want freedom. The fact that saying so is criminalized or even controversial underscores how deeply misunderstood and maligned Palestinians are.”
X user @adamfentyy replied to Shahid’s comment, “Exactly. from the river to the sea, PALESTINE WILL BE FREE. And we will keep saying it.”
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.