Amazon violates its ‘offensive or controversial content’ policy, which prohibits any item that ‘promotes, incites, or glorifies hatred, violence, racial, sexual or religious intolerance or promotes organizations with such views.’
By Shiryn Ghermezian, The Algemeiner
The online retail giant Amazon has been accused of violating its own policy by selling apparel, masks, and other items that feature the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” — a slogan that has been widely used as a call for the destruction of Israel, which is located between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
The organization UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) sent a letter on Thursday to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and David A. Zapolsky — Amazon’s senior vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary — arguing that by selling these items, Amazon is breaching its “offensive or controversial content” policy, which prohibits any item that “promotes, incites, or glorifies hatred, violence, racial, sexual or religious intolerance or promotes organizations with such views.”
UKLFI Director Caroline Turner, who penned the letter on behalf of the organization, asked Amazon to remove from its website items that feature the offensive phrase, which has also been used as a slogan by those who defend the Hamas terrorist attacks perpetrated against Israel on Oct. 7 and during the current war between the Jewish state and the Palestinian terror group. Turner said UKLFI has received “many complaints” from the Jewish community and “other concerned individuals” about the sale of these products on Amazon.
The letter further noted that wearing clothing in public displaying the slogan could breach section 5 of the UK’s Public Order Act 1986, which says a person is guilty of an offense for displaying “any writing, sign, or other visible representation which is threatening, abusive, or insulting, within the hearing or sight of a person” that is likely to cause “harassment, alarm, or distress.”
British Home Secretary Suella Braverman said on Oct. 16 that 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.”
“We do not think that there is any argument for these items to remain on sale on your website given that they are in breach of your own policy guidelines, the Home secretary’s guidelines, and that wearing such items in public can be a criminal offense,” UKLFI concluded its letter. “Please kindly confirm that the sale of such items will be withdrawn forthwith.”
Amazon did not respond to The Algemeiner‘s request for comment.