Anti-Muslim rhetoric in Greece, Hungary and Germany. Antisemitic narratives in Belgium, France and Poland whilst anti-migrant, and a biased article is published in the UK
In February's media monitoring we saw a Greek media outlet spread the Great Replacement narrative whilst a Flemish media outlet published five conspiratorial articles linking the Ukrainian government to Nazi ideology. In Hungary, a pro-government website spread an Islamisation narrative, whilst a UK tabloid published a biased article. In Germany, a YouTube video spread anti-Muslim narratives, in France, a newspaper published an article on a recent problematic, antisemitic incident, whilst in Poland, a website is being used as a front to promote an antisemitic publishing house.
Greece – Media outlet spreads Great Replacement narrative
The news website Epixirimatias published an anti-Muslim article titled: ‘The first 1,000 Muslim settlers arriving on Evros and [Greek] islands in 2023 will receive an amount of 1,590 euros from the state for each unaccompanied minor”.’
Spreading the Great Replacement theory, this report is fuelled by misinformation and lies echoing the false narrative that Muslim migration threatens the Greek welfare system.
The writer reported that the number of illegal Muslims entering Greece is much higher than official figures and that migrants strategically travel with minors to receive more state funds. He said: ‘The hospitality benefits and services include at least feeding, interpretation, material benefits, psychosocial support services, hygiene and cleaning, health and medical care services and legal counselling through the appropriately qualified staff of the operators of the supervised apartments.’ This angle is problematic as it sends false propaganda that migrants live wealthier lives than Greek citizens.
This type of message is dangerous as it feeds the far-right ideology that Muslims are invaders and the ones to blame for all social and political issues in the country.
Belgium – Spike of Nazi conspiracy narrative about Ukrainian government on Flemish news site
In February, conspiratorial media outlet Frontnieuws published five articles linking the Ukrainian government to Nazi ideology.
Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, contributed to this media spike and the obsessive rhetoric linking the Ukraine government to Nazism. Due to this misinformation and lies, there is a worrying spike of antisemitism and Holocaust denial narratives in traditional and social media.
Although Ukraine is known for being home to the Azov Battalion, a far-right nationalist movement controversial for its neo-Nazi sympathy, this militia should not be used as the norm of all Ukrainian society.
This media outlet also evoked the old antisemitic tropes that Jewish families are greedy and wealthier, using the war as a financial opportunity to control the baking industry and dominate the world.
This rhetoric is dangerous as it uses the Ukrainian-Russia war to trivialise the Holocaust that killed millions of innocent Jews. It also exposes the Jewish community to violence and hate speech.
Hungary – Pro-government website spreads Islamisation narrative
The pro-government news website, Mandiner, published on the 7th of February 2023 the anti-Muslim article titled: "The future belongs to Allah!" - thousands of Muslims demonstrated on the streets of Hamburg.
According to the German Bild news website, more than 3,500 people attended a rally against burning the Koran. Although this was a peaceful event, conservative politicians took the opportunity to spread the Islamization narrative.
The writer emphasised that the event turned into "the revival of Islam" and used the participants' sentences such as: "The future belongs to Allah!" The Koran is the future!" "Islam is the future!" as the angle to spread the narrative that Muslims are not interested in assimilating Western values but in converting Europeans to Islam.
The report vilifies this demonstration and falsely spreads allegations that the protest was held to recruit young Muslims to extremist Islamic groups. This dangerous narrative is problematic for spreading misinformation and lies and for inciting hate speech and violence against the Muslim community.
UK – Daily Mail publishes biased article about far-right protests in UK hotels
The British tabloid Daily Mail published biased article, titled: Hundreds of far-right activists led by ‘Hitler-lookalike’ stage demonstration against asylum seeker hotels in Lincolnshire weeks after riots in Merseyside.
The article uses a sensationalistic tone and is framed with the angle that refugees and migrants are the problem and should not be hosted in hotels in the UK. Although the publication mentioned that far-right protestants created this incident, the writer demonstrates bias in gathering facts, giving more space to use quotations from far-right rhetoric.
More than that, it also gives this platform a space to enable racist views regarding the right type of refugees welcomed in the UK. 'Ukrainians are one thing, but a lot of these people crossing the Channel are certainly not Ukrainians, there's been reports in the press a lot are from Albania and elsewhere. Albania hasn't been at war for years, they're a modern, stable country. We're being taken advantage of in this country.'
This anti-migrant and racist incident is dangerous as it uses freedom of speech and the current financial crisis, and the Brexit tensions to justify hatred sentiments against migrants from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Germany – YouTube video promotes anti-Muslim sentiments surrounding the Berlin district of Neukölln
A documentary on YouTube titled “Berlin-Neukölln: The place where the rule of law ends; Documents reveal integration failure” displayed strong anti-Muslim sentiments and fearmongering narratives.
The documentary was published by ‘Achtung Reichelt’, a YouTube channel owned by Julian Reichelt, the former boss of BILD – a German tabloid newspaper. In this video, right-wing propagandist and journalist known as Jan Karon investigates the recent riots that took place on New Year’s Eve. Karon talks about the ‘integration refusers’ when referring to the Berlin district of Neukölln, which is an area of the city characterised by its large Arab-Muslim community.
The video goes on to imply that Muslims are particularly violent and have no interest in becoming part of German society. The video promotes the idea that this district is a no-go area due to the large amount of violence, implying that Muslim people in particular, are violent and criminal.
Narratives like these, which are based on prejudice and hold no factual basis serve to create a divide in society and promote anti-Muslim sentiments.
France – Liberation draws attention to a Nazi forum organising an antisemitic election
French generalist newspaper Liberation recently published an article on the antisemitic forum known as Europe Écologie Les Bruns. This forum is a Nazi forum where a large amount of antisemitic content is shared and exchanged online.
Recently, this same forum organised an election for the ‘dirty Jew of 2022’, providing yet another platform for the spread of antisemitism. The entire forum serves to spread hateful, antisemitic narratives and rhetoric.
The forum itself comes from the antisemitic website known as ‘Démocratie Participative’ created by Boris Le Lay – a far-right, antisemitic activist who has been on the run from the French authorities for several years and is currently in Japan (where there is no extradition to France).
Boris Le Lay is facing an international arrest warrant but is refusing to leave the country as he faces several charges in France.
Poland – Website of ‘independent book club’ turns out to be a front for an antisemitic publishing house
A website promoting an ‘Independent Book Club’, has proved to be a front for the notorious antisemitic publishing house called 3Dom. In reality, the ‘Independent Book Club’ is an initiative of Tomasz Grzegorz Stala – the founder and owner of 3Dom.
The page titled ‘Let’s save 3Dom publishing house’ includes a video by Tomasz Stala who claims that ‘we are on the frontline of the struggle against political correctness and the demo-liberal system, in opposition to the global Jewy and Freemasonry’.
The video goes on to call on individuals to support this antisemitic publishing house financially. Moreover, the video includes an image of a stereotypical Jew and a Freemason in the forms of puppeteers, controlling social media companies as well as the Black Lives Matter movement.
This spreads the hateful, antisemitic narrative of the all-powerful Jew, where Jews are often portrayed as ‘secret puppeteers who manipulate the global economy’ and politics to ‘accumulate wealth and power’. Moreover, the video named and attacked the GTTO partner ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association which had publicly criticised the antisemitic activities of Tomasz Stala in the media.