Use of 'decolonisation', 'from the river to the sea' banned from X: Elon Musk

Elon Musk, the tech billionaire, made a post on his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, on Saturday warning that anyone using the slogan "from the river to the sea" and the word "decolonisation" would face suspension.

He announced this move because, according to Musk, these terms are anti-Semitic and could incite hatred towards Jews.

He reposted his previous tweet in which he says that the term decolonisation, "necessarily implies a Jewish genocide, thus it is unacceptable to any reasonable person."

While reposting the tweet, he wrote: "As I said earlier this week, 'decolonisation', 'from the river to the sea' and similar euphemisms necessarily imply genocide.

"Clear calls for extreme violence are against our terms of service and will result in suspension."

The slogan, "from the river to the sea", is a Palestinian slogan that signifies the liberation of occupied Palestine from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

The slogan originated in 1964 when the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) called for a single state to encompass its historic territories under Yasser Arafat's leadership.

However, this proposition was never accepted and more than 750,000 Palestinians were instead driven from their homes in what became known as the Nakba, or the “catastrophe”.

The slogan asserts Palestinians' right to their land, highlighting their struggle against Israel's atrocities since the occupation, but the West and Israel view these phrases as anti-Semitic statements, as they claim the land is theirs based on their scriptures.

The move comes after Musk was heavily criticised by the White House for backing an anti-Semitic post on Wednesday, which resulted in leading brands to pause advertisements on X.