COVID-19 Vaccines Stories Filled With Antisemitic Theories, And Halloween And Christmas Used To Push Hatred Against Muslims

In November’s monitoring, we saw news outlets use the upcoming COVID-19 vaccines to push antisemitic sentiments, outcry from public figures after a major French department store pulled its adverts from a conversative news channel, and an investigation revealing journalists for a Hungarian news channel were forced to cover migrant stories in a negative tone.

Belgium – Doorbraak Uses Halloween to Push Anti-Muslim Narrative

An article on Belgian opinion website Doorbraak titled “Samuel Paty, All Saints' Day and Halloween”, written by Johan Sanctorum, used the Halloween celebration to push an anti-Muslim narrative. In the piece, Sanctorum creates a parallel between Halloween and a call for stronger responses to radical Islam. He states: “Besides a depiction of evil, isn't that macabre carved pumpkin also a bit of evocation of the effect, the head of Samuel? A warning to the executioners? A signal that not everything can be reduced to dialogue and relativity?” The article continues in a very violent fashion, claiming that “terror can only be fought with counter-terror." In the article, the author is talking about the Islamic terrorist attack on Samuel Paty; however, he suggests that not only is a violent “solution” necessary against Islamic terrorists, but Muslims in general: “Macron's pumpkin transformation, the decision to hunt down the jihadists and the planners, can therefore only go hand in hand with intimidating the radicalized, but also the 'good' and right-minded Muslims, that one civilized imam against the 999 hate preachers. Don't be sorry if this now sounds as wrong as anything. If the fear really has to change camp, it must not only affect individuals - you will not be intimidated by the suicide bomber - but above all a group, a religious subculture as a whole.” The article not only utilises strange and sensationalist narratives but is also a form of a call for violence against Muslims.

UK – News Agency Claims Muslim Immigrants Find Christmas Trees Hurtful

News agency V4NA, who aim to give “a conservative, right wing perspective of the key political, economical, cultural and other news critical to the EU and the world,” this month published an article titled: “Liberals to Sacrifice Christmas.” The article itself talks mainly about environmentalists’ fears around Christmas trees and the harm this may cause the planet, which V4NA suggests is actually a tactic rooted in Communism which aims to get rid of Christmas. In the opening paragraph, the author also states: “Christmas trees may also be viewed as hurtful by sensitive Muslim immigrants.” Nowhere further in the article is this claim elaborated on: where is the evidence for this? Has the author interviewed a Muslim immigrant who finds Christmas trees hurtful? Why is this relevant to the story? We have seen in previous years unfounded claims that Muslims in Europe are trying to “destroy” Christmas – in the past, Halal Christmas food options have been used as “evidence” for such claims. It seems that V4NA is trying to push this narrative further, by including this statement in their introduction without any context or facts. V4NA is known for pushing xenophobic and anti-Muslim narratives, as a recent report done by GTTO’s Hungarian partner Centre for Independent Journalism, in collaboration with 444.hu, showed.

France – Outcry After Decathlon Pulls Advertisement from CNEWS

Activewear retailer Decathlon has decided to pull its advertising from TV channel CNEWS for the Christmas period, and potentially for 2021. This decision was made after a successful campaign from the French branch of Sleeping Giants, a “campaign to make bigotry and sexism less profitable.” We have covered CNEWS several times within the GTTO project, showcasing the hateful media environment it creates. Channels like CNEWS run on advertising money, and so it is a welcomed decision that a big retailer like Decathlon has chosen to no longer support it. However, not everyone was so pleased. Eric Ciotti, politician for The Republicans, was one of several who voiced their opinion online: "Decathlon who stops its ads on CNEWS and boycott the journalists Pascal Praud, Christine Kelly or Eric Zemmour... The same company who used to sell Islamist hijab for running in its shops". The “Islamist hijab” Ciotti is referring to is a running product Decathlon developed for women who wear a head covering.

Greece – Fringe Newspaper Makes Extreme Antisemitic Claims Regarding COVID-19 Vaccine

MAKELEIO is a fringe far-right publication, known for its extremely antisemitic, anti-Muslim and sensationalist coverage. In November, they ran a front-page news story which read: “Countdown to terror for the compulsory vaccine. In Greece (now) the "poison" from the sinful Pfizer by the contemporary "Mengele". A Jewish vet will stab us with the needle. Nightmarish adductions in chambers-camps as (if we were) herds". MAKELEIO is known for spreading lies and misinformation and has made its stance against vaccines clear in the past. In this case, the paper makes its point through the antisemitic narrative that the Jewish people are controlling the vaccine production, and that they are doing so in an attempt to rule the world. The Greek Museum of the Holocaust and the Central Jewish Council in Greece both publicly denounced the article and highlighted the seriousness of the claims. An investigation by the Public Prosecutor has been launched against MAKELEIO for spreading fake news.

Germany – Junge Freiheit Article Offers Harmful Distorted Depiction of Muslims and Migrants

An article in the ultraconservative newspaper Junge Freiheit warned about Islamic terrorism using sensationalistic language and exaggeration to stoke hatred against Muslims. The author, a historian and high school teacher Karlheinz Weißmann, claimed that ”’colourful’ districts of major European cities” (a metaphor to refer to neighbourhoods where a high percentage of people are of migrant backgrounds) publicly express sympathy when the Vienna terrorist attack happened. He also claimed that migration in the West ”led to explosive increase in crime” and ”the return of [...] slavery and child marriage”. This framing gives the impression that real problems are attributed to Muslims and migrants in order to smear them. The article also presents migrants as ungrateful, insubordinate, and dangerous, and uses military metaphors such as “occupation”and “culture war”. Frequent exposure to such a negative and stereotyped framing of Muslims and migrants can strongly influence society’s perception of them, leading to negative attitudes towards migration, with serious consequences for the lives and safety of people considered migrants. The author of this article also criticised Western politicians, suggesting that they do not allow citizens to defend themselves all in the name of a supposedly unnecessary strife against hatred. This is a dangerous argument as it implicitly endorses hateful and violent behaviour.

Belgium – L'Echo Gives Voice to Staunch Secularist who Advocates for the Headscarf Bans in Civil Service

The daily newspaper L’Echo has published an interview with Véronique De Keyser, former MEP and current director of the Secular Action Centre (CAL), focusing on the killing of the French teacher Samuel Paty in October. After briefly mentioning the cartoons of Prophet Mohammed, De Keyser expressed her views on feminism and the headscarf. When discussing a recent regulation in the Molenbeek municipality (Brussels) that allows civil servants to display religious symbols, De Keyser states that she would like “the same law for everyone” and that she is “not against the veil, but it must be the choice of women except in spaces like the civil service.” At no point does the journalist challenge De Keyser’s remarks, or acknowledge that restriction on religious symbols affects Muslim women disproportionately. The journalist briefly mentions the existence of Muslim feminism, however, De Keyser replies by insisting that there is only one valid universal feminism. “Our (Western) feminism has been to increase the rights of women. We never have forced a woman to do anything”, De Keyser said. The reporter should have challenged her statement, pointing out that not allowing women to wear the headscarf in the civil service is to force them out of some spaces and prevents them from wearing their clothing of choice.

Hungary - RFE/RL Obtains Evidence that Public Broadcaster Reporters Were Ordered to Use an Anti-Migration Narrative

Reporters at Hungary's public broadcaster MTVA faced pressure and specific orders to push an anti-migrant narrative, an investigation by RFE/RL has revealed. Leaked material demonstrates that editors at MTVA instructed journalists on how to cover migration, and other topics including LGBTQ+ issues, climate change, and opposition parties and candidates. Reporters at MTVA were given a migrant-story quota of at least one a day and were told what tone to use. Stories on migration had to be framed in a way that viewers would form a negative image of foreigners. Instructions were very specific. Reporters were ordered to start with the most brutal visuals: ”For example, a migrant who stabs, kills, or screams 'Allahu Akbar.' Afterward, you had to tell the story, adding how many million migrants arrived in Europe and that there are millions more on the Balkan route, all of whom will be knocking at Hungary's borders. This was the pattern.” Reporters were also prohibited from using the word ‘refugee’ in any context. Instead, they had to use ‘migrant’ even to refer to people who were officially granted refugee status. These findings confirm what Get The Trolls Out has been denouncing since 2015: that the tough anti-immigration agenda of the Fidesz-led Hungarian government is reflected in the reporting of public service media.