petition text

Dear Mark and Sheryl,

In a world full of walls, social media is a powerful tool to help us share our stories and support one another and our common humanity — no matter our religion, race or nationality. We know Facebook is considering its responsibility to implement guardrails to keep the platform safe and accessible for us to connect across space and difference.

But we are deeply concerned about Facebook's proposed revision of its hate speech policy to consider "Zionist" as a proxy for "Jew" or "Jewish." The proposed policy would too easily mischaracterize conversations about Zionists — and by extension, Zionism — as inherently antisemitic, harming Facebook users and undermining efforts to dismantle real antisemitism and all forms of racism, extremism and oppression. We cannot dismantle antisemitism if we are blocked from voicing our opinions and sharing our experiences with each other. We can discuss, debate and even disagree, as long as we share the belief that all of us deserve safety, freedom, and dignity. We ask Facebook to not erect barriers impeding users from connecting with each other as we engage in this work. 

This is the wrong solution to a real and important problem: those who fuel antisemitism online will continue doing so, with or without the word “Zionist.” In fact, many antisemites, especially among white supremacists and evangelical Christian Zionists, explicitly support Zionism and Israel, while engaging in speech and actions that dehumanize, insult, and isolate Jewish people. Importantly, this move will prohibit Palestinians from sharing their daily experiences and histories with the world, be it a photo of the keys to their grandparent’s house lost when attacked by Zionist militias in 1948, or a livestream of Zionist settlers attacking their olive trees in 2021. And it would prevent Jewish users from discussing their relationships to Zionist political ideology.

Facebook scrutinizing specific words won’t keep any of us safe, but it will prevent us from connecting on the political issues important to all of us and block us from holding people and governments accountable for their policies and actions. The current Israeli government, and some of its supporters, have demanded that Facebook add “Zionist” to its hate speech policy. This would shut down conversations about accountability for policies and actions that harm Palestinians. Facebook should refuse to cooperate with those who seek to build more walls to keep us apart. We call on Facebook to not add “Zionist” as a protected category in its hate speech policy.

Signed,
[Your Name Here]

Atilio Boron, Argentina

Carolina Bracco, Argentina

Fernando Romanazzo, Argentina

Norita Cortiñas, Argentina

Tilda Rabi, Argentina

Berenice Bento, Brasil

Breno Altman, Brasil

Jessica Tauane, Brasil

Julia Azevedo, Brasil

Raul Fitipaldi, Brasil

Soraya Misleh, Brasil

Ualid Rabah, Brasil

Rabbi David Mivasair, Canada

Rima Berns-McGown, Canada

Sheryl Nestel, Canada

Karol Cariola, Chile

Lina Meruane, Chile

Lorena Mussa, Chile

Iván Prado, García/Catalunya/Madrid

Jan Assmann, Germany

Prof. Aleida Assmann, Germany

Anand Patwardhan, India

Githa Hariharan, India

Pamela Philipose, India

Prabir Purkayastha, India

Retd. Prof. Achin Vanaik, India

Vijay Prashad, India

Amos Goldberg, Israel

Einat Weizman, Israel

Elias Khoury, Lebanon

Alejandra Gómez Colorado, Mexico

Alejandro Román, Mexico

Angel Hernandez, Mexico

Edgar Álvarez Estrada, Mexico

Gilberto Conde, Mexico

Hugo Vázquez, Mexico

Irmgard Emmelhainz, Mexico

Marcela Álvarez Pérez, Mexico

Oscar de Pablo, Mexico

Rubén Ortiz, Mexico

Silvana Rabinovich, Mexico

Yasnaya Elena Aguilar Gil, Mexico

Adnan Jubran, Palestine

Diana Buttu, Palestine

Hanan Ashrawi, Palestine

Omar Barghouti, Palestine

Tali Feld Gleiser, Patria Grande

Aziz Pahad, South Africa

Essop Pahad, South Africa

Rasigan Maharajh, South Africa

Ronnie Kasrils, South Africa

Sydda Essop, South Africa

Hector Grad, Spain

Julio Perez del Campo, Spain

Luz Gómez Garciá, Spain

A.L. Kennedy, United Kingdom

Dr. Brian Klug, United Kingdom

Ilan Pappe, United Kingdom

John Austin, United Kingdom

Julie Christie, United Kingdom

Ken Loach, United Kingdom

Mike Leigh, United Kingdom

Miriam Margolyes, United Kingdom

Peter Gabriel, United Kingdom

Professor Kamel Hawwash, United Kingdom

Sir Stephen Sedley, United Kingdom

Alia Shawkat, United States

Amer Zahr, United States

Ayelet Waldman, United States

Barry Trachtenberg, United States

Bill Fletcher, United States

Daniel Boyarin, United States

David Zirin, United States

Dean Spade, United States

Deborah Dwork, United States

Dima Khalidi, United States

Cornel West, United States

James Schamus, United States

James Zogby, United States

Judith Butler, United States

Katherine Franke, United States

Lara Friedman, United States

Linda Sarsour, United States

Marc Lamont Hill, United States

Michael Chabon, United States

Noam Chomsky, United States

Phyllis Bennis, United States

Rabab Abdulhadi, United States

Rabbi Alissa Wise, United States

Rabbi Borukh Goldberg, United States

Rabbi Brant Rosen, United States

Rabbi Ellen Jaffe-Gill, United States

Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg, United States

Rabbi Laurie Zimmerman, United States

Rabbi Linda J Holtzman, United States

Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, United States

Rabbi Mackenzie Reynolds, United States

Rabbi Rayna Grossman, United States

Richard Falk, United States

Shaul Magid, United States

Wallace Shawn, United States

Zahra Billoo, United States

Ernesto Resnik, United States/Argentina