Fifty-four years have passed since the events of September 1970, a conflict that erupted between the Jordanian army and armed Palestinian groups in Jordan. These events, known as "Black September," resulted in violent clashes between the Jordanian Armed Forces and Palestinian militants, leading to the deaths of thousands.
The roots of these events trace back to the aftermath of Jordan's loss of control over the West Bank in 1967. In the wake of this defeat, Palestinian fighters relocated their bases to Jordan and escalated attacks on Israeli-occupied territories. Subsequently, Israel responded by attempting to strike a Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) camp in the Jordanian town of Karameh in 1968—a town situated along the border with the West Bank. This confrontation became known as the "Battle of Karameh."
The joint Jordanian and Palestinian victory in the Battle of Karameh significantly bolstered Arab support for Palestinian fighters in Jordan and enhanced the influence and strength of the PLO within the country. By 1970, the PLO openly sought to overthrow the Hashemite monarchy, even making two assassination attempts on King Hussein. These tensions culminated in violent confrontations between the Jordanian army and Palestinian militants in June 1970. The situation intensified, leading to the hijacking of three civilian airplanes on September 10. The planes were forced to land in Zarqa, where foreign citizens were taken as hostages. Later, the planes were blown up in front of the international press.
On September 17, the Jordanian army surrounded cities where the PLO was present, including Amman and Irbid. The army launched heavy artillery and tank shelling on the Palestinian fighters stationed in refugee camps. The following day, a force from Syria, bearing the insignia of the Palestinian Liberation Army, advanced toward Irbid, which the fighters had declared a "liberated city."
This brief recounting of the events of what is known as "Black September" is intended to provide the context analyzed in the article, helping readers understand the dimensions of hate speech in Jordan's digital discourse. An analysis of posts on the digital platform "X" (formerly Twitter) during September 2024 reveals a troubling glorification of hate speech within society. This included the use of terms such as "purification," in addition to “inciting violence,” “abuse of others,” and “racial discrimination based on identity, ethnicity, and religion,” often targeting individuals and groups to mobilize audiences against them.
Hate speech can be summarized into three fundamental pillars:
Hate speech can be further divided into three levels. The first level is national, targeting specific individuals or groups and escalating over time. The second level is regional, where sectarian tendencies are solidified in “some countries,” mobilizing against certain sects. The third level is international, such as the phenomenon of “xenophobia,” which manifests as discrimination or hostility toward individuals perceived as foreigners, strangers, or refugees due to differences in culture, ethnicity, or nationality, and the phenomenon of “Islamophobia,” present in some Western societies.
In Jordan, hate speech is prevalent like in any other society. It targets the “defining factors of identity,” including real or perceived factors of an individual or group, such as religion, ethnic affiliation, nationality, race, color, ancestry, or gender. It also includes languages and dialects, economic or social background, disabilities, health conditions, or sexual orientation, among other aspects.
Clear indicators of the spread of hate speech include certain negative descriptors, which serve as early signs that can be measured, such as terms like theft, fraud, violence, incitement, especially when associated with calls for nationalistic or racist hatred. This also includes dehumanization to create a negative image of other groups, such as migrants or refugees.
A set of keywords and related hashtags were established to identify and study the context of the posts. The research focused on the period from August 23 to September 23, 2024. It was found that the total number of posts on X reached 2,335, involving 1,614 accounts. Total global views exceeded 1.1 million, with reach surpassing 18 million instances.
The highest participation came from Jordan, accounting for 40%, followed by Palestine at 13.5%. The remaining 46.5% was distributed across various countries worldwide. This does not necessarily imply that the tweets originated from Jordanian or Palestinian individuals, but rather that the registered geographical location was Jordan, Palestine, or other countries.
Male participants constituted 63.6% of the total, compared to 26.4% females. The highest publishing activity occurred on September 1, 2024, with a total of 671 posts in a single day.
Among the age groups participating in the posts, a variety of age ranges were observed. The most prominent age group was 25-34 years, accounting for 47% of participation, followed by the 18-24 age group at 29%.
Total interaction with the posts amounted to 17,566 instances, with a daily average of 585.5 interactions. These interactions included retweets, likes, comments, and replies. Amid this flurry of posting and engagement, the top posts were identified, garnering a total of 111,924 views.
The most notable posts promoting hate speech were as follows (with phrases and errors cited as they appeared in the source, without modification):
The first post was tweeted by the account @ali1234500001. The text read: "A glorious September to all Jordanians and Jordanian women[1]." It included an image of Jordanian army forces dragging the body of a deceased individual. The image received 106.4K views and 940 interactions. While the date of the image was not specified, it clearly depicted Jordanian army forces during the 1970s.
The second post was tweeted by the account @Haneenzakariya1. The text read: "A white September as white as the faces of our Arab army, and black on the traitors, usurpers of the cause, and land sellers like Yasser “Abayat”. A glorious September to you, Jordanians[2]." It included a 41-second video featuring the late Jordanian Prime Minister Wasfi Tal, which received over 40K views and 714 interactions. The video referred to eliminating the Palestinian presence in Jordan and rejected the idea that it was a resistance movement. It also mentioned that during the 18 months preceding September, the Palestinian militants had reportedly not conducted a single operation against Israel.
The third post was tweeted by the account @fourthtamer. The text read: "A glorious September, that is white for us and black on traitors. Every year our memory stays alive, and every year ‘a believer is not stung from the same hole twice’[3]." The post included an image that received 37.9K views and 570 interactions.
The fourth post was tweeted by the account @AlkhaldiSuhib. The text read: "A glorious September[4]." The post included a one-minute video of battles from the September events, accompanied by a patriotic song glorifying the Jordanian army. The video received 22.6K views and 517 interactions.
The fifth post was tweeted by the account @Wolfordan. The text read: "Some of the martyrs of the sacred Jordanian army during the internal security events #أيلول_الأبيض (White September)" The account is no longer active. The image included in the post received 28.2K views and 103 interactions.
The sixth post was tweeted by the account @Quriash911 in the form of a question with multiple-choice answers: "On the occasion of the anniversary of the glorious Jordanian White September, what means did Yasser Arafat use to escape from the grip of the Jordanian army in 1970?" The options provided were: a women’s abaya (robe), civilian attire, or traditional robe and headband[5]. The post included an image of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, which garnered 35.5K views and 312 interactions.
The seventh post was tweeted by the account @mutasemmomani and featured a personal photo accompanied by the phrase "Glorious September, Nashamis (Jordanians) [6]." It received 33.1K views and 359 interactions.
The eighth post was tweeted by the account @kadooj_92, stating: "When the Ba'athist Syrian army entered Jordan to support the traitorous factions during White September, it was confronted by Major General Marzouk Falah Al-Abed Al-Da’ja, the commander of the 40th Armored Brigade, who repelled the Ba'athist enemy from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan[7]." The post included a photo of King Hussein with a military commander and another photo of Jordan's Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah alongside Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah of Kuwait. The post received 28.3K views and 386 interactions.
The ninth post was tweeted by the account @dilllw_, presented as a question: "Imagine I am a ten year old and explain to me what Black September and White September are[8]." The post had 303 interactions.
The tenth post was tweeted by the account @saif_saud as a reply to a tweet from @xxfreespirtxx, which stated: "So you support Palestinians allying with Iran and others—even the devil—to confront the occupier of their land?!" @saif_saud replied:
"Of course, I support Palestinians allying with whoever they want. But the problem is they have been utterly foolish in their alliances. They sided with Hitler against the Allied forces in World War II, then a few years later, they assassinated King Abdullah I of Jordan while he was praying in Al-Aqsa, dragging his body and mutilating it. Then, they allied with Nasser, leading to the occupation of the West Bank, Jerusalem, Sinai, Gaza, and the Golan Heights. They later aligned with Marxism and Communism, occupying Jordan during Black September, attempting to assassinate King Hussein and his family twice, blowing up three civilian planes at Dawson’s Field in Jordan, and driving steel nails into the heads of Jordanian citizens. They declared the Jordanian city of Irbid 'liberated from Jordanians' in 1970 and, of course, later assassinated Jordanian Prime Minister Wasfi Tal in Cairo. They were notorious for their actions in Lebanon, including assassinating Lebanese President Bachir Gemayel and causing the Sabra and Shatila massacre, igniting Lebanon’s civil war from 1975 until today. They occupied Saudi embassies in Paris and Sudan, killing those inside, took over the Japanese Embassy in Kuwait, killed the UAE Foreign Minister Saif Ghobash, Egyptian Minister Youssef El Sebai, Kuwaiti diplomat Najeeb Al-Rifai, and hijacked a plane carrying Saudi Oil Minister Ahmed Zaki Yamani. They committed the terrorist attack at the Munich Olympics and later allied with Saddam Hussein to kill and displace Kuwaitis, working as spies for Saddam’s occupying forces in Kuwait. Their ambassador in Kuwait, the infamous ‘Awni Battash, turned the Palestinian embassy into a recruitment center for residents in Kuwait. Later, the Muslim Brotherhood among them aligned with Iran to dig tunnels in Sinai, jeopardizing Egypt’s national security. They conducted several operations against Egypt and the Egyptian army, including the Karm Abu Salem operation and the Al-Arish mosque attack, while the Muslim Brotherhood’s guidance bureau in Egypt coordinated prison breaks and burned police headquarters. They even labeled the cowardly criminal Qasem Soleimani, who displaced and killed over 40 million people in Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, and Syria—burning many alive—as 'The Martyr of Jerusalem.' So yes, they are free to ally with whomever they wish, but do not expect divine victory for committing such atrocities and calling a man responsible for killing and displacing 40 million Sunni Muslims 'The Martyr of Jerusalem.' This is a divine law. Let them ally with whomever they want, but may they spare us their harm, refrain from encroaching on us and our homelands, and stop attacking us."[10].
During the monitoring process, we linked topics that received engagement with the pyramid of hate speech. To gain a deeper understanding we can look at the elements that form this pyramid. Analysis were made using the Voyant-Tools [11]. A set of examples matching hate speech criteria was identified as follows:
Examples identified during the analysis include:
المصدر: Walaapales@
المصدر: t70446@
المصدر: kadooj_92@
المصدر: nooraldeen518@
Officially, and according to numerous sources, the Jordanian state hosts refugees from 49 countries, who constitute 1.4% of Jordan's total population, according to the 2023 Global Trends Report issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), excluding Palestinian refugees who fall under the mandate of UNRWA, as of June 4, 2023[12].
Jordanian law[13] defines hate speech as any written or [spoken] words, or action that result in inciting sectarian or racial strife or encouraging conflict between sects and various elements of the nation. Due to the policies and nature of the Internet, which has granted everyone the right to express themselves and their opinions, provocateurs and extremists have emerged, blending hate speech with freedom of expression and causing harm to others, undermining their dignity, and demeaning their moral values to achieve interests at the expense of others.
Jordan's constitutional law guarantees every individual the right to freely express themselves and their opinions through various means of expression, provided that this freedom does not cause harm to society or pose a threat. Jordanian law explicitly addresses the crime of hate speech in Article (20) of the Audiovisual Media Law No. (26) of 2015, which stipulates that the licensee must refrain from broadcasting anything that violates public decency or incites hatred and terrorism. In 2017, a new provision was introduced to penalize hate speech under the Jordanian Penal Code. This provision amended Article (467) to state: "Anyone who incites hatred by any means, in any place, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term not less than three months and not exceeding one year[14]."
Accordingly, the crime of hate speech is relatively new to Jordanian society and was not recognized until 2015. This is due to the widespread use of the Internet and social media, which serve as fertile ground for the spread of hate speech and its use in disputes.
[1] See: https://x.com/ali1234500001/status/1830001485477769252
[2] See: https://x.com/Haneenzakariya1/status/1830262200059179033
[3] See: https://x.com/fourthtamer/status/1829989485184237814
[4] See: https://x.com/AlkhaldiSuhib/status/1830042020540232004
[5] See: https://x.com/Quriash911/status/1830030152190869785
[6] See: https://x.com/mutasemmomani/status/1831412992300441919
[7] See: https://x.com/kadooj_92/status/1830056003875807358
[8] See: https://x.com/dilllw_/status/1830173417317769520
[9] See: https://x.com/xxfreespirtxx/status/1834143445906080048
[10] See: https://x.com/saif_saud_/status/1834245321003565209
[11] Tool can be found here: https://voyant-tools.org/
[12] See: Jordan, Home to 3.7 million refugees from 49 countries
[13] See: Criminalization of Hate Speech، https://jordan-lawyer.com/2022/10/22/criminalization-of-hate-speech/
[14]See: Cyber Crimes Law https://www.lob.gov.jo/?v=1&lang=ar#!/LegislationDetails?LegislationID=3398&LegislationType=2&isMod=false
[15] See: Understanding Hate Speech https://www.un.org/ar/hate-speech/understanding-hate-speech/what-is-hate-speech
Basel Al Nerab
Author and writer specializing in media issues, with a keen interest in promoting ethical values in digital media.
Blog: b-nerab.com
