Antisemitic incidents in Polish media, French election candidates exposed for antisemitism and islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Hate Incidents Occur in Belgium, Hungary, Greece and the UK.

30 Jun

In June’s media monitoring we saw a worrying number of antisemitic incidents in Polish media, National rally candidates in France were exposed for antisemitic and Islamophobic posts on social media, and anti-Muslim hate incidents flagged by all our other partners, including; a Greek newspaper exploiting homopobia to smear Muslims, Hungarian TV promoting the ‘Great Replacement’ conspiracy narrative and Belgian media spreading Islamophobic tropes after the appointment of a hijab-wearing federal government commissioner.

Belgium – Doorbraak Published Article Riddled with Anti-Muslim Statements

Doorbraak, a Flemish opinion site, published an article this month about Ihsane Haouach. Haouach was this month appointed as the Government Commissioner at the Institute of Equality for Women and Men in Belgium.

The appointment received particular attention from Georges-Louis Bouchez, who is the president of the Francophone liberal MR party. Bouchez claimed that Haouach’s appointment goes against “the neutrality of the state” because she wears a headscarf.

Doorbraak took this case as an opportunity to publish an article riddled with anti-Muslim statements and stereotypes. The piece, authored by Johan Sanctorum, opens with the question: “Feminist Muslim women, do they exist?”, which he then answers himself with: “In Islamic cultures, women are carefully shielded and raised in their subordinate role.”

He goes on further to claim that Muslim migrants think that Western women and girls are “whores” and that Muslim women “wait in all virtue to be chosen as brides through an inter-family deal.” Sanctorum talks with some positivity about Haouach, but only to use this to then smear all ‘other’ Muslims.

He refers to women in Belgium who wear the burqa as “walking tents” and claims that Haouach’s appoint will help with the “de-Islamization” of Belgium.

Besides the clear Islamophobic tropes and narratives throughout the piece there is also the glaring reality that Sanctorum has no personal experience with the headscarf and yet feels he is fully qualified to make sweeping statements about it.

Belgium – Le Vif Reinforces False Narratives About the Headscarf

French-speaking Belgium press also focused on Haouach this month, as was the case with Flemish-speaking press as above.

Le Vif lent their platform to Etienne Dujardin, lawyer and municipal councilor for the Francophone liberal MR party in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, to write on the case.

Specifically, the article focused on the STIB case which we covered last month. In June, STIB lost their case, which prompted new media coverage.

On Haouach, Dujardin writes: “Let us first mention the appointment of a veiled person as federal government commissioner at the institute for gender equality. This appointment is a serious mistake, in terms of symbolism in particular. Even if not all women wear the veil under duress, no one can deny that too many women are abused, harassed, despised, threatened with death, whether in Belgium or abroad, because of resisting the headscarf. We cannot say that wearing the veil, in Belgium or in the world, is a tool of equality, emancipation, or feminist victory, it is quite the opposite.”

This statement is based on generalizations and assumptions and fails to reflect the diversity in women who wear the headscarf. Indeed, in some circumstances the headscarf may not be worn out of own choice by the woman but in many cases, it is.

It is extremely damaging to ignore this and to assume that all women who wear the headscarf are doing so under duress. Moreover, the constant media attention on Haouach’s headscarf takes away from her professional successes and instead only highlights what she chooses to wear, a trend which seems rooted in misogyny.

UK – Politicalite Unnecessarily Focusses on Campaigners Religion

A new TV channel launched in the UK this month called GB News, which received much attention prior to launching as many described it as a British version of FOX News.

Many have been worried about sensationalist reporting on the channel and throughout June many activists and organizations monitored the content. One such individual was Alex Tiffin, who urged others to complain to regulator OFCOM over worries that GB News was pushing conspiracy theories around COVID-19.

Politicalite covered this case, titling their article: “EXCLUSIVE: Violent Muslim Convert Launches Campaign to Shut Down GB News.” They refer to Tiffin as a “violent Muslim convert” several times in the piece. Tiffin is indeed a Muslim convert and has been charged with a violent offence in the past.

However, repeatedly referring to him as a “Muslim convert”, when this has nothing to do with the story itself, is only playing into the hands of those looking to validate anti-Muslim tropes and narratives.

Tiffin initiated a complaint about a supposed COVID-19 conspiracy theory on GB News: how does his religion play into that?

Poland – Serious Antisemitism Aired on Polish TV Channel

On June 24th, Polish parliament passed a draft bill related to World War 2 property restitution claims. Many media outlets in Poland covered this issue, including broadcaster TV Republika.

On air, commentator Rafal Ziemkiewicz criticized the position of Israeli and US diplomats in Warsaw who had publicly supported restitution of property belonging to Holocaust survivors. He called the new FM of Israel Yair Lapid “a scoundrel who hates Poland”.

He claimed Holocaust-era restitution claims are “the work of the New York mafia, the big business of extorting compensations from Poland (...) which is supported by the Israeli government and the US embassy”, suggesting the existence of a criminal international Jewish conspiracy against Poland.

He also questioned the facts of the Jedwabne pogrom of 1941. He said: “A new confrontation with international Jewry is coming up and we must be ready for this confrontation”.

This was one case of many in Poland this month of serious antisemitism in the mainstream press. To see our full rundown of the cases, and for more information about the background of the bill, please click the link below.

France – National Rally election candidates exposed for antisemitic and anti-Muslim posts on social media

During the French regional elections campaign in June, several candidates running for the Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party were exposed for racist remarks. Investigations by media outlets such as Mediapart and television France 2 uncovered social media posts from recent years in which NR candidates expressed antisemitic conspiracy theories and called for violence against Muslims.

Marta Le Nair (Gironde department) published an antisemitic conspiracy theory post on Jacob Rothschild and tweeted an antisemitic joke. Juliette Planche (Loire department) retweeted several conspiratorial remarks by Yvan Benedetti, a far-right activist condemned for incitement to hatred and antisemitism. Geneviève Veslin (Creuse department) made tributes to Robert Faurisson, a well-known Holocaust denier. Danièle Delavaud (Correze department) tweeted incitement to violence against Muslims.

In Oulches, a village in the Centre-Val de Loire region, Nazi symbols were spray-painted on all electoral posters except for the ones belonging to the National Rally. In an attempt to smother any sign of anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim hated, the party withdrew their official support, but they were allowed to run as independent candidates. Despite this superficial glossing over, the National Rally remains an anti-immigration and anti-Muslim party with a decades-long history of antisemitism and Holocaust denial.

Greece – Kathimerini Newspaper Column Exploits Homophobia to Smear Muslims

The Greek political and financial newspaper Kathimerini has published an anti-Muslim opinion piece titled “Gay and Islamophobic sentenced to death”.

The author, well-known columnist Takis Theodoropoulos, attacks the Left for allegedly supporting “Islamic atrocities” and giving priority to religious freedom over European values.

Theodoropoulos uses the example of Mila, the French teenager who received death threats and abuse for an Instagram post where she calls Islam a "religion of hate”. She did so after receiving homophobic abuse from a Muslim commenter.

Theodoropoulos says that Mila has received no support from feminist and LGBTQ+ organisations, claiming that the Left would rather prioritise respect for Islam. He also attacks Greek Muslims, suggesting that a similar case could happen in Greece.

The columnist’s arguments are deeply misguided. Firstly, Mila has received widespread support, including from GTTO partner Licra. Mila’s death threats and abuse are unacceptable, and perpetrators should be punished.

Secondly, there is a flaw in stating that Mila, or anyone else, should be free to express any views, when they constitute hate speech. The fight against Islamophobia and the fight against homophobia can and should be fought together, not one at the expense of the other.

Thirdly, when Theodoropoulos blames only Muslims for homophobia, not only is he making a stereotypical and harmful generalisation, but he is hiding how hatred, prejudices, and discrimination against LGBTQ+ people are widespread in Greek and European society. A few years ago, the murder of Zak Kostopoulos, a 33-year-old Greek LGBTQ activist and drag artist, exposed pervasive homophobia in Greece.

Hungary – Pro-government Hír TV Promotes Great Replacement Conspiracy Narrative

The pro-government Hír TV has broadcast an anti-Muslim fearmongering news piece titled “The number of Muslim immigrants in Sweden is drastically increasing”.

Using tropes from the Great Replacement conspiracy narrative, Hír TV’s correspondent in Sweden claims that, within 100 years, Swedish people will be a minority due to the increasing numbers of “Muslim believers and people from Arab countries”.

The bulletin seems to be entirely based on an opinion piece written by the Czech prime minister, whose numbers on Muslim immigrants in Sweden are uncritically accepted and quoted by Hír TV.

The journalist uses inflammatory language, such as “Islam could rule Sweden” and insists on how the left-wing Swedish prime minister had announced a tougher immigration policy but never implemented it.

The conspiracy narrative of the Great Replacement often comes hand in hand with a call for people to defend their country, values or the white race, at any cost, including resorting to violence. This belief has motivated white supremacists to kill people in Hanau, Germany; Christchurch, New Zealand; and El Paso, Texas.

Hír TV was an independent television broadcaster until 2018, when it was acquired by pro-government businessman Zsolt Nyerges – a move by Prime Minister Victor Orbán and his allies to gain further control of the media in the country.

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