this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2026
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I'm failing to see how the phrase "from the river to the sea", alone, can be considered a call to destroy Israel, let alone unequivocally genocidal. It seems like there's a lot of top-down reasoning required to arrive at that conclusion. I don't think there is genocidal intent on the deployment of those words on that woman's top. I think you assume too much. Israeli leaders, on the other hand, use unmistakably genocidal language. And then they also commit genocide. You don't get to both sides this issue with a very tenuous argument that this popular slogan is a call to genocide.
This is like saying “I don’t see how the phrase “white power” alone can be considered a call to kill black people?” 🤣
It is a call to destroy/eliminate Israel. Don’t try to pretend it’s not.
No, it isn't like that. Because "white power" is used exclusively by extremists, whereby "from the river to the sea" is not. Do you see the difference there?
It is though. They might not think they're extremists, but they are.
People who are demanding an end to apartheid are extremists, you say. So apartheid, genocide, ethnonationalism, mowing the lawn, etc etc, are the norm, then? You're raving mad.
People demanding Israel be eliminated, which is what the saying means, are extremists, correct.
I'm not sure if you're aware of how language works, but I am. And I can assure you, your statement is not true, particularly the part you have italicised. This is not as simple as you think it is or would like it to be.
I hope one day you realise how mistaken you are.
The phrase was created with the explicit intent to destroy Israel. We can equivocate about the intent to destroy Israel as being genocidal, but as I explain, Palestinian activists consider it genocidal intent when Israeli politicians talk of destroying Palestine, so I use their own standard. It may be that people who use this phrase do not intend destruction of Israel, but they are using a phrase which was created explicitly to call for the destruction of Israel. I don't accept that there is any good faith way to claim the term has been "reclaimed." If I say "heil Hitler," and follow it up with "but no genocide or any of the bad stuff Hitler did," it doesn't erase the first part of my sentence. In fact, the second part is antithetical to the first.
And the phrase "bless you" was created with the intent to banish demons out of your nose, but we still say it when you sneeze.
"From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free", is what they chant. Calling that genocidal is Orwellian mate. Get a grip.
Bad example. The intent was good and it remains good.
Many do not. Many drop the second part entirely. For example, the t-shirt on the girl in this very video that we are discussing. Either way, adding a nice phrase to the end of a genocidal phrase doesn't make the genocide part less bad.
Accusation reversal. "The genocidees would be genociders if the role were reversed" aka "they deserved it".
How does it feel being a genocide apologist?
I don't know. How does it feel to be a genocide apologist? Rape and murder is always bad, and I think your defense of atrocities because they're committed by your "side" is abhorrent.
Like those babies who got raped on the 7th of october, according to the genociders?
Piece of shit. You really believe everything your little massmurdering nation is telling you dont ya?
Whataboutism re baby rape is next level evil.
whatever simp. Arabs eat babies for breakfast you know that
It's not a bad example, and I credit you with the intelligence to understand the principle the example is driving at, which you are choosing to ignore, that is: meanings change.
Do you really believe that girl made that t-shirt with genocidal intent? Do you think she wants Israelis wiped out?
Yea Israel is genociding the palestinians, not the other way around. Quit being a negationist