DECEMBER 2015 - MEDIA MONITORING HIGHLIGHTS
From the antisemitic phone-in caller on BBC Radio London and anti-racist organisations sponsoring an antisemitic activist in Brussels, to the ceaseless preposterous headlines of Eleftheri Ora in Greece: these December highlights are an overview of the most significant results of our monitoring of traditional and new media in Belgium, France, Greece, Hungary, and the United Kingdom.
UNITED KINGDOM - antisemitic caller remains unchallenged on BBC
Date of publication: 22 December 2015
Media Outlet: BBC Radio London – Simon Lederman Show
Headline: “BBC radio show presenter allows caller to opine for 13 minutes about Jewish world domination”
Description of the antisemitic content:
A phone-in caller, “Andy from St Margaret”, was allowed to rant about antisemitic conspiracy theories on Jewish world domination for 13 minutes on the Simon Lederman Show on BBC Radio London. Andy claimed that the media and banking sectors are owned by the Jews, who are all, according to him ‘Zionist Jews’. The radio presenter, Simon Lederman, only partially challenged his views but let him continue with his tirade (even telling his caller: “I’m giving you more than I have done anyone”).
Some excerpts from the live call:
“They are trying to control us more and more and more. They want to put a chip up our backsides, a ring through our noses, and a visor for our horizons… the elite… the Rothschilds”
“The Rothschilds, the people who own the Bank of England, the people who own the Federal Reserve, they’re all Zionist Jews. The people who own corporate America, the media, you’ll find if you just do a little bit of research, they’re all Zionist Jews. We are ruled by Zionist Jews.”
“They control the money, the money, finance… 80% of corporate America, of the media, is owned by Jews. And they’re Zionist Jews.”
“We are dominated by the Jews’ system, the financial Jewish system.”
"We keep going on about the Jews… mainstream media, they keep banging on about the Jews and the Holocaust… we keep going on about six million Jews.”
About the source:
Established by a Royal Charter, the BBC is the British public service broadcaster funded by the licence fee paid by UK households.
Editorial guidelines breached:
Though it is debatable what the best way to tackle hate speech is, let alone a definition of hate speech, several BBC editorial guidelines were repeatedly breached during the phone-in call:
Guideline 1.3.2, which states that the BBC must do all they can "to ensure that controversial subjects are treated with due accuracy and impartiality";
Section 4: Impartiality: Controversial Subjects 4.4.8, which states “when dealing with ‘controversial subjects’ this should be clearly signposted”;
Impartiality: Breadth and Diversity of Opinion 4.4.2, which states “minority views should not necessarily be given equal weight to the prevailing consensus”;
Impartiality: Breadth and Diversity of Opinion 4.4.4, which states “responses should not be given a wider significance than they merit and we should take care not to misrepresent the relative weight of opinions expressed”.
Reactions:
Giving 13 minutes of airtime to a phone-in caller holding explicit antisemitic views prompted the reactions on many organisations in the frontline against antisemitism. Asked for a comment, a BBC spokesperson told the Jewish Chronicle: “The aim of the programme is to discuss and debate issues raised by our listeners. This was a live phone in and the caller was challenged on his views throughout the conversation.” Following the disappointing response of the BBC complaint team to the complaint filed by BBC Media Watch, the Media Diversity Institute is exploring how journalists, including Simon Lederman with the phone-in caller, should deal with hate speech and BBC is doing to prevent such incidents in the future. Furthermore, Get the Trolls Out has called for the opinion of two experts in the field with two different approaches to the issue: Eric Heinze, Professor of Law at Queen Mary, University of London, author of Hate Speech and Democratic Citizenship, and theEthical Journalism Network, which promotes ethics, good governance and independent regulation of media content.
Myth Debunked:
As we can see in previous Get the Trolls Out Monthly Highlights, the visibly Jewish name “Rothschild” (here in plural) is used in a negative way to symbolise the relation between “Jews” and “money”. Excerpts of the speech also reveal a revisionist discourse about the Shoah (“they keep banging on about the Jews and the Holocaust…we keep going on about six million Jews”). What follows is also Stereotyping (Jews, Rothschild, money) and the amalgamation between “Jews” and “Zionists”, where again the word Zionist is not defined. Another stereotype is the one about Jewish “power” in the United States. But, as some studies show, neither in Europe nor in the United States (see myth 1) are Jewish people richer than the average population.
See more in the “Debunking Myths” booklet by Enar.
FRANCE - Revisionist theories on the Holocaust
Date of publication: 13 November 2015
Media outlet: Égalité et Réconciliation (E&R)
Headline: “La Shoah, tombeau de la lutte des classes dans le monde juif” – “The Shoah, the tomb of the class struggle in the Jewish World”
Description of the antisemitic content:
The author of this article, Alex G., expands upon a revisionist theory about the Shoah. He claims that the Jews killed during the Second World War were sacrificed by the Jewish capitalistic families (“the Rothschild, the Weinmann and the Petschek”). The article links this theory to the creation of Israel and the diffusion of the image of the “Jewish collaborator”. The introduction states: “In this article, we will not ask about the number of Jews killed during WW2, or about the cause of the massacres. We will ask ourselves a rather basic but on our opinion much more interesting question, a question that is seldom asked in all its simplicity: which Jews were exterminated?”
About the source:
Equality and Reconciliation (French: Égalité et Réconciliation) (E&R) is a political association created in June 2007 by Alain Soral, a former militant of the French Communist Party, and also of the central committee of the National Front (2007). Other founders are Jildaz Mahé O'Chinal and Philippe Péninque, two former activists of Groupe Union Défense (GUD), a violent extreme right student group (now disappeared).
The political association describes itself as cross factional and "left nationalist.” The association states that its intention is to bring together "citizens who are part of the nation that determines political action and social policy which are the foundations of the Brotherhood, an essential component of national unity," and that it is "on the Left for the workers and on the Right for morals. The association belongs to the extreme right, is deeply rooted in antisemitism and is a breeding ground for future National Front activists.
Alain Soral, sentenced by the Court of Appeal of Paris to a €5,000 fine for antisemitic insults against the Jewish journalist, was selected as our Ousted Troll of the Month in December.
Myth Debunked:
The article, by author “Alex G.”, expresses idea of historical revisionism: it states that capitalist Jewish families sacrificed poorer Jewish families during WW2 and escaped the Shoah. It continues claming that during WW2 (as well as before and after) there was no “Jewish conscience” among Jewish “elites”, but rather a “strong class conscience” (“De 1933 à 1945 – et d’ailleurs avant comme après –, point de « conscience juive » chez les élites israélites, mais une solide conscience de classe dont témoignent de très nombreux parcours.”). Even though we cannot deny social differences within the Jewish community, the fate of the 6 million Jews killed in the Shoah is a historical fact that shows that eventually class differences did not matter in the eyes of the Nazis. Today, the remembrance of the Shoah is an important aspect of the collective Jewish identity.
BELGIUM - antisemitic political activist as anti-islamophobia keyspeaker
Date of publication: 12 December 2015
Media outlet: public event in Brussels sponsored by several anti-racism organisation
What happened in a nutshell: On Saturday 12 December 2015, several organisations co-sponsored an anti-islamophobia rally in Brussels, Belgium. One of the key speakers invited was Dyab Abou Jahjah, a political activist and writer well-known for his antisemitic and homophobic statements.
Description of the antisemitic content:
These are some of statements appeared years on the website of the Arab-European League, which Jahjah founded.
“Yes Arabs and Muslims are uptight when you touch their religious and national symbols, but Europe had made of political correctness and the cult of the Holocaust and Jew-worshiping its alternative religion and is even more uptight when you touch that.”
“I am for the absolute freedom of speech everywhere, and that’s why I call upon every free soul among Arabs to use the Danish flag as a substitute for toilet paper. To illustrate every wall with graffiti making fun of everything Europe holds as holy: dancing rabbis on the carcasses of Palestinian children, hoax gas-chambers built in Hollywood in 1946 with Steven Spielberg’s approval stamp, and Aids spreading fagots. Let us defend the absolute freedom of speech altogether, wouldn’t that be a noble cause?”
For decades we have been telling the world that the European Jews are not Semitic but converted Kazars […]. That their ancestors […] are nothing but European colonial occupiers. Now it is scientifically proven. Zionism is based on a racist lie, there is no Jewish people […].
Furthermore, in some Facebook posts he has denied the existence of Jewish people.
There is no doubt that Jahjah is actively importing the Israel-Palestine conflict into Europe in such a way that links Israel as oppressor to Muslims in Europe as victims. The impact of such discourse on the perception and safety of Jews in Europe has been demonstrated time and time again. His positioning is proven in the fact that one of the 5 Motions taken by Movement X is defined by a delegitimisation of the existence of the state of Israel (see quotation marks “Israel”), when the organisation otherwise is defined by fighting racism IN BELGIUM. He clearly “crosses the line” on the antisemitism litmus test.
Reactions:
Within Get the Trolls Out, CEJI, which has relations with some of the co-sponsoring organisations of this event, had to react informally and formally in writing to the co-sponsors to express their dismay. As a reaction to CEJI’s letter to all of the co-sponsoring organisations, one pulled their name off the organisers’ list, some expressed their regret at having not been aware of his background sooner, and others stood by their position.
Myth Debunked:
Accusing Europe of the “cult of the Holocaust”, describing gas chambers as “hoax gas chambers built in Hollywood in 1946”, and also publishing cartoons representing Anne Frank in bed with Hitler saying “Write this one in your diary Anne!”, are just a few examples of the blatant Shoah denial and antisemitism of Dyab Abouh Jahjah. Another denial present in his statements is the denial of the existence of the Jewish people whose ancestors he calls “European colonial occupiers”. When his antisemitism is criticized and opposed by Jewish and non-Jewish organisations, it is clear that he uses the opportunity to import the Israel-Palestine conflict into Europe in a way that is not only unrelated to the event but is further importing antisemitism in Europe, as can be seen in his Facebook post in reaction to the opposition to his invitation on 12 December 2015: “Zionist organisations […] are leading a huge campaign of lies and disinformation to portray me as an evil anti-semitic and holocaust [sic] deniar bigot. They know themselves that they are lying. They know themselves that they are doing that because I call them out as racists. Zionism is colonial racism! They think they can boycott us? They think they can "black list" us? They got this all wrong. We boycott you Zionists! We black list you! #FreePalestine #BoycottIsrael”
GREECE - Four antisemitic headlines on Eleftheri Ora
Date of publication: 29 November 2015
Media outlet: Eleftheri Ora (Sunday edition)
Link: http://bit.ly/1lKDgm4
Headline:
Ιλλουμινατι πισω απο τα γεγονοτα της συριας, το “προφητικο παιχνιδι” των σιωνιστων! “προέβλεψαν” μέχρι και το χτύπημα στο παρίσι την... Παρασκευή και 13!
The illuminati behind the events in Syria. The "prophetic game" of the Zionists! They “predicted” even the attack in Paris on… Friday 13th!
Description of the antisemitic content:
The headline is referring to a board game (see pictures next to the headline) that is supposedly created by Zionists. According to the paper, there are game elements in it that “predict” the Paris attacks. This is one more antisemitic article from Eleftheri Ora. However, it seems that they try to be more careful with their statements: they use quotes that turn their false accusations to metaphors. Maybe our response had some impact after all.
Date of publication: 06 December 2015
Media outlet: Eleftheri Ora (Sunday edition)
Link: http://bit.ly/1Pxur73
Headline: Ο ΡΟΤΣΙΛΝΤ άρπαξε τα λεφτά μας! -Η μεγάλη ληστεία των ελληνικών τραπεζών από κερδοσκοπικά funds συμφερόντων του Εβραίου τραπεζίτη.
ROTHCΗILD snatched our money! The great robbery of Greek banks by hedge funds of interests of the Jewish banker.
Description of the antisemitic content:
The headline mentions that the banker who owns the hedge funds that supposedly bought the Greek banks is Jewish. Here we have one more antisemitic headline from Eleftheri Ora and it is the second one in which they try to be more “subtle”: they only mention that Rothschild is a Jew (in small letters). The headline is related to the recent event of foreign hedge funds buying out – for a rather cheap price – the biggest Greek banks. We don't know whether Rothschild's hedge funds took part in it.
Date of publication: 17 December 2015
Media outlet: Eleftheri Ora
Link: http://bit.ly/20oXKQZ
Headline 1:
“Σχεδιο του διεθνους σιωνιστικου τερατος”, Ο σεραφειμ “αφοριζει” τους βουλευτες που ψηφισαν το συμβολαιο συμβιωσης
“A plan of the international Zionist monster”, Seraphim excommunicate the parliament members who voted for the civil partnership
Description of the antisemitic content:
The quote in the headline includes both the common myth about the international Zionist conspiracy (called a “monster” for extra flavor) and the allegation that the legislation for same-sex couples' partnership is a plan of this “monster”. It's another aspect of the “blame the Jews” myth, this time related to homophobia. This antisemitic headline quotes a part of the statement Piraeus' Greek Orthodox bishop, Seraphim, released about the Greek government's proposal for a legislation that grants same-sex couples the right to form a civil partnership. This particular bishop expresses very often antisemitic and many other ultra-right wing ideas in public. He even had supported Golden Dawn a few years ago, but he has withdrawn his support since 2013.
Headline 2:
σορος, τσιπρας και... κεντρικο ισραηλιτικο συμβουλιο. στρατηγος αϋφαντης: “οι εβραιοι στην ελλαδα δεν πληρωνουν φορους”. “αφορολόγητη και η τράπεζα της... ελλάδος που ανήκει στον ρότσιλντ”
Soros, Tsipras and… central board of Jewish communities in Greece. General Aifantis: “Jews in Greece don't pay taxes”, “Bank of... Greece that belongs to Rothschild is also untaxed”
Description of the antisemitic content:
The quote repeats once again the antisemitic claim that Greek Jews are granted the privilege of complete tax exemption, which is a total lie. The headline quotes this ultra-right, conspiracy-lover retired general once again. This particular antisemitic myth is being repeated many years now, even by the current Minister of Defense and President of the ultra-right party of the Independent Greeks, just a couple of months before he became a Minister. The myth has drawn the attention of Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece that has issued a debunking statement 5 years ago.
About the source:
Eleftheri Ora is an ultra-right-wing newspaper repeatedly spreading antisemitic speech. The paper often relates what they perceive to be an “evil” or catastrophe -either national or international- with Jews. Symbiosis has submitted an official complaint to the Journalists' Union of the Athens Daily Newspapers to put an end to the antisemitic fabrications spread by this daily.
Myths Debunked:
These four headlines by Eleftheri Ora give us a good overview of the general antisemitic and ultra-right wing statements of the Greek newspaper. Jewish world conspiracy (the “prediction” of the 13 November attacks), Jewish money and power (“Rothschild snatched our money!”, the false statement that Greek Jews don’t pay taxes) and a fusion of antisemitism and homophobia. The fact that a national-political movement founded in 1896 (i.e. Zionism) could “predict” terror attacks with the help of a board game is sheer delirium. Further more, “Rothschild snatched our money” is a clear antisemitic message and image associating being Jewish with robbery. Also, reducing Jewish identity to a visibly Jewish name, in such a headline, clearly proves the antisemitic intention of the message. A similar accusation of Jewish money and power can be found in the statement that Greek Jews don’t pay taxes, which is utterly false. Furthermore, one of the headlines contains explicit hate speech against two minorities, Jews and LGBT.
