French Beauty Pageant Contestant Subjected To Antisemitic Hate Online, Anti-Migrant Stories Published Across Europe and A Belgium Minister Pushes ‘Cultural Incompatibility’ Trope.
In December’s monitoring, we saw various news outlets publish a variety of anti-Muslim and antisemitic stories raising alarms of the number of refugees to Europe, public figures reproducing tropes of incompatibility between Islam and the West, and an English actor denying the existence of Islamophobia.
Belgium – Doorbraak Fuels Author’s Anti-Muslim Message
Belgian author Jean-Pierre Rondas recently published a new book titled “A Question of Existence”. According to the online platform Doorbraak, who interviewed Rondas, the book “exposes the causes of the phenomena we know today under the collective name ‘political correctness’”, where the author also claims to “suffer from Islamophobia”. In the interview, Doorbraak Editor-in-Chief Pieter Bauwens and Rondas discuss how, in their view, political correctness is a construction of post-modernist ideology. The discussion then shifts to the term ‘Islamophobia’. Rondas argues that it is nonsensical to equate a negative opinion of Islam to a phobia, because you cannot be afraid of Islam as you might be of “rats”. The introduction of the term islamophobia, continues Rondas, is a strategic intervention from governments to make views on Islam seem worse than they are. In turn, this enables governments to make islamophobia punishable by law. By using political philosophy, the author completely undermines the real hate many Muslim communities suffer from. Doorbraak fuels the message of the author during the interview by positioning the questions in favour of his arguments, and presenting him as a Flemish intellectual. The issue here is not a discussion around the term ‘Islamophobia’ but rather that the manner in which this occurs undermines the many experiences of Muslims worldwide.
UK – Laurence Fox Claims “Islamophobia is a Lie”
On Twitter, actor and politician Laurence Fox stated: "Also Islamophobia is a lie. A meaningless word scrabble of rubbish." This comment was in response to book publisher Hachette terminating Julie Burchill’s book contract after she was accused of making Islamophobic comments. Over 2100 people interacted with the Tweet, with the replies showcasing a mix of people agreeing and criticising Fox. By claiming that Islamophobia is a “lie”, Fox is essentially disregarding all Muslims who have faced hate due to their religion. This is not the first time that we have reported on Fox. In January 2020, Fox made incorrect and disrespectful claims about Sikhs’ role in World War I.
Germany – Journalists Use One Isolated Case to Stigmatise All Muslims
Anabel Schunke authored a post for right-leaning blog Achgut.com titled: “There Is No More Protection”. The article claims that Muslims pose a threat to public safety in Germany. The focus of the article is a YouTube video created by Fayez Kanfash, in which a person dressed in traditional Arab clothing is shown leading another person through Berlin. The second person is wearing a Macron mask, a blonde wig and is bound with ropes. At several instances throughout the video, the leading person sets Macron masks on fire. In response to this provocative video, the author claims: “The case exemplifies that the German state is neither willing nor able to protect its citizens from people who openly reject the free democratic basic order of the Federal Republic [of Germany]. Moreover, the reasons for this raise the question of whether the security of an asylum seeker, even if he poses a threat to this society and values, is worth more than that of its own citizens.”
The author reiterates the narrative that dangerous Muslims are valued more by the state than its own citizens throughout the article. Moreover, Schunke seems to be taking her criticism of the individual who produced the video and applying it to all asylum seekers in Germany, furthering the us vs. them narrative. Schunke further states: “The problem with the fight against Islamism is that there is no sharp dividing line between Islamism on the one hand and Islam, which the majority of Muslims also practice in this country. Thus, the problem does not lie solely with the few extremist lone wolves who are actually willing to cut off the head of someone who insults their religion, but with the many who sympathize with the perpetrators and justify the acts.” These are serious claims to make, which the author does without giving any facts or linking to research. The article amassed 5,480 total interactions on Facebook. The video in question is indeed provocative; however, this is no excuse for the author to make sweeping hateful statements about Muslims in general. Schunke should have focussed her criticism on the creator of the video if she believed it necessary, instead of using one case to spread hate against a whole group of people.
Hungary - Origo Makes Unfounded Anti-Migrant and Anti-Muslim Claims
An article on government-friendly news site Origo titled “Brussels set to settle down 34 million migrants in order to gain votes for the left” is filled with anti-Migrant and anti-Muslim sentiment as well as misinformation and unfounded claims. The article alleges, with no sources indicated, that the European Union plans on allowing the settlement of 34 million immigrants in order to gain more votes for liberal and leftist parties. The author claims that in the newly revealed plans, immigrants would receive homeownership and financial support in order to help them settle into the region. The article also suggests that Brussels’ action is in line with George Soros' idea of "Open Societies", and that multinational companies have already been forced to ban displays of Christian symbols in order to not offend anyone. For the many claims made in the article, there are no sources cited. Some of the allegations in the article are serious, and it is extremely unprofessional and unethical to make such claims without providing evidence. It is important to note that Origo, who we have highlighted many times in the past, recently ran a government-backed campaign targeting young people to consume content from their platform. With a growing audience base, the content published by Origo is only becoming more dangerous.
France - Miss Provence’s Israeli Origins Prompt a Wave of Antisemitic Abuse on Social Media
A torrent of online antisemitic abuse was sent to a runner-up of Miss France, April Benayoum, after she revealed her Israeli origins during the contest final. Soon after saying that her father was born in Israel, Benayoum, who holds the title of Miss Provence, was subjected to hateful messages attacking her for being Jewish (“Don't vote for Miss Provence because: she is Jewish”), for having Israeli origins (“Miss Provence and not Miss Lorraine, Israel finances TF1 [the TV channel where the contest of Miss France is broadcast], wake up”) and with comments downplaying the Holocaust (“Uncle Hitler forgot to exterminate Miss Provence”). French prosecutors opened an investigation for "racist insults" and "instigation of race hatred" in messages that were posted mainly on Twitter. “Let's meet behind the court for all the twittos who have transformed Twitter yesterday night into an antisemitic sewer against #MissProvence”, tweeted GTTO partner organisation Licra, and invited people to report hateful content to them in order to launch a class action against the perpetrators. This was not the first time that the Miss France pageant has resulted in hateful attacks online, with anti-African, anti-Arab, and anti-Asian comments regularly being made against women who are considered “not French enough” to represent their country.
Greece – Newsbreak Publishes Inflammatory Opinion Piece Against Muslim Asylum Seekers
A news site in Greece, Newsbreak.gr, published an opinion piece by Faelos Kranidiotis, leader of the far-right party New Right (Nea Dexia), which used strong and abusive language against Muslims. The piece, titled “The threat is called Islam”, is a violent invective against Islam and Muslim refugees in Europe. Kranidiotis compares their arrival to an act of suicide: “The EU, together with us, is watering the tree on which we will be hung. We also give them the rope. We subsidize the suicide of European nations”. The author uses sarcastic and aggressive language to attack Muslim people who are seeking asylum while depicting Greek and European “natives” as victims. In his tirade, Kranidiotis contradicts himself multiple times. First, he claims that refugees and asylum seekers lie about the persecutions they face in their countries of origin (“they [NGOs] will even advise you what lies to tell about your origin and fantastic stories of persecution and adversity”), and then smears them for benefitting of European welfare systems and civil rights “if you stick to Greece for a long time, you will not be killed at work, nor will you be forced”. Not only is the article full of insults and stereotypes against Muslims presenting them as barbaric and violent, but it is also extremely insensitive towards people who have fled war, violence or persecution.
Belgium - Minister of Justice on Public Service Broadcaster Reproduces Trope of Cultural Incompatibility between Western and Muslim Values
On “Matin première”, a radio programme of the Belgian public service broadcaster RTBF, the minister of justice, Vincent Van Quickeborne, discussed his decision to renew the committee of the “Executive of Muslims”, a body that represents the Muslim communities in Belgium in front of the national authorities. Speaking with the programme host, the minister said that Islam needs to be reformed in a way to make it more “compatible” with “our values” as, according to him there is currently a problem with it. The host did not challenge these statements nor did he address them as dog-whistling - a phrase that is not overtly racist, and may sound innocuous to some people, but that reaches a specific group. Using the trope of “cultural incompatibility”, which claims that Islam does not “fit in” with Western culture, Van Quickeborne reproduced the misconception of an unbreachable difference between “us” and “them”. The minister also used double standards towards the Muslim community: while he questioned the shortage of women and Dutch-speaking representatives in the Muslim Executive, he did not express any comments about the bodies representing other religions.
