Will Trademarking A Pro-Palestinian Slogan Keep It From Being Uttered? Two Jewish-Americans Hope So
Two Jewish-American men have filed separate trademark applications as part of an interesting strategy to try to prevent the use of a pro-Palestinian slogan.
The slogan, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which has always been a controversial statement in the United States, has become even more so since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. It refers to the geographic area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
Palestinian supporters say the phrase is a non-violent call for liberation, while critics argue it’s inherently anti-Semitic.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), the only Palestinian-American member of Congress, used the slogan at a rally condemning Israel’s war in Gaza, which earned her an official censure voted on by 22 Democrats and four Republicans.
According to The New York Times, the congressional rebuke said the phrase was “widely recognized as a genocidal call to violence to destroy the state of Israel.”
Tlaib denounced the criticism against her, calling the slogan an “aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence.”
According to The Jerusalem Post, the trademark filings have triggered “a flurry…