November 2015 - MEDIA MONITORING HIGHLIGHTS
Conspiracy theories blaming Jews and Israel to know in advance about the Paris attacks, as well as to be the cause of the refugee crisis, have thrived online in the month of November, our media monitoring reveals. Not only ordinary people have shared antisemitic images on social media linking Jews with ISIS, but MPs in Greece, a politician in Belgium and a mayor in Hungary have publicly expressed these absurd claims.
These November 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.
GREECE - Conspiracy theories on Paris attacks
Text: “Three months ago, the leading Rabbi of Jerusalem was calling French Jews to leave the country. 9,000 Jews left [France] to go to Israel. Is this telling you something?”
Description of the antisemitic content:
Panos Leliatsos, former member of the Independent Greeks party, has shared an article on the influx of French Jews to Israel and added a comment saying that “the leading Rabbi of Jerusalem” called French Jews to leave France just three months before the Paris attacks of the 13th of November 2015. Leliatsos’ words (“Is this telling you something?”) imply that the rabbi knew in advance about the Paris attacks and tried to save French Jews, thousands of whom fled the country after being informed. With his comment, Leliatsos has fomented one of the vicious conspiracy theories that associate Jews with terrorist attacks.
About the author and the source:
The author of this message, Panos Leliatsos, is a former member of the Independent Greeks political party (far-right, junior party of the bipartisan ruling coalition in Greece). He was Deputy Head of Energy and Development Sector of his party and an MP candidate in the January elections. He resigned his position last August. The Independent Greeks party's leader too, Panos Kammenos, has been previously accused of being antisemitic when he claimed that Jews pay less taxes than other Greek citizens.
Leliatsos’ Facebook post was shared by the blog “Anemos Anatropis”. Rachel Makri – former SYRIZA MP (and former Independent Greeks MP) – tweeted that blog post on Twitter, adding that US president Obama and French president Hollande are behind the attacks too. Having been at the centre of many controversial debates before, Makri’s tweet drew great attention from the public and many people, both Jews and non-Jews, blamed Makri of antisemitism. After being exposed, Makri deleted her tweet.
Myths Debunked:
This incident shows how information can be distorted by (mis)using it for one’s own purpose. About 7000 Jews have emigrated from France to Israel in 2014 , and in 2015, over 6000 French Jews have emigrated to Israel since the beginning of the year. This migration wave is related to the rise of antisemitism in Europe and the violent form it has often taken. Since 2012, 13 Jews have been killed only because they were Jews. Here, it is not clear to which Rabbi of Jerusalem the author of the text refers to, nor if this appeal is accurate. Panos Leliatsos uses the boom of the French Aliya [emigration to Israel] following the attacks in France this year to suspect a “Jewish conspiracy”. What is implied is that Jews knew about the attacks and therefore left France. This clearly recalls the 9/11 antisemitic conspiracy claiming that no Jews were killed on the attack because they didn't go to work at the World Trade Center that day.
Date of publication: 15 November 2015
Media outlet: Anemos Anatropis blog
Link: http://anemosanatropis.blogspot.nl/2015/11/bataclan.html
Headline: “Jewish owners recently sold the Bataclan theatre in Paris, where the carnage took place”
Description of the antisemitic content:
The article explains that the Bataclan theatre in Paris, attacked by ISIS members on the 13th of November 2015, was previously owned by Jewish people, who sold it just two months before the attack. The article implies that the recent sale was not just a coincidence, thus linking Jews to the attack. This mischievous speculation fits into the conspiracy theories that have been circulating after the Paris attacks (see above) and recalls, for similarity, the one that claims that there was advance knowledge of the 9/11 attack. In addition to this, the article suggests that Israel is hiding behind IS (“What is it that you don't understand, anyway? That behind Islamic State is the State of Zion?”).
About the source:
The blog Anemos Anatropis holds a populistic stance in its news reporting. Their tagline slogan reads: “Citizens owe to know the truth because an informed citizen will never be deceived”. Its Facebook page reaches 6,000 followers.
Myths Debunked:
This incident, as the one above, shows how information can be distorted by (mis)using it for specific own purpose. This conspiracy theory draws its conclusion by a true fact: that the former owners of the Bataclan were Jewish and that they sold it “just two months” before the attack. However, by putting together two completely unrelated, and somehow opposite, elements (the migration wave to Israel, due mainly because of antisemitism in Europe, and the jihadist attacks motivated by hatred, fueled among others by antisemitism), the chronology of the event is presented in a way that shows antisemitic ideas.
HUNGARY- Conspiracy theories on the Paris attacks
Date of publication: 29 November 2015
Link: http://bit.ly/1P7Lbq0 (HU) and http://bit.ly/1OIKscJ (EN)
Headline in the papers: Mayor of Szentgotthard blames Jews for Paris terrorist attacks
Description of the antisemitic content:
Gábor Huszár, mayor of Szentgotthard, blamed the Israeli-backed “business circles”, i.e. Jews, for the Paris attacks of 13 November 2015. He said: “Everyone should just take my word for it. What happened in Paris is clear evidence that certain business circles, dare I say business circles which are likely backed by the Jewish state, are trying to pit Christian Europe against the Islamic State”. This statement was made during a session of the municipality commission on 16 November 2015 which was to decide on the planned expansion of a refugee camp near Szentgotthárd, a city at the Western border of Hungary with Austria.
Myth Debunked:
The mayor’s belief falls within the antisemitic theory that makes Jews and/or Israel responsible for the evil of the world. Currently, this is mostly represented by IS and the latest terror attacks in Europe. It is a particularly absurd distortion of reality since Jews were and are key targets in the deeply antisemitic jihadist ideology. The killing of four Jews at a Jewish school in Toulouse in 2012 by Mohammed Merah, of four people at the Jewish Museum in Brussels in 2014 by Mehdi Nemmouche, and of four Jewish men at a kosher supermarket in Paris in 2015 by Amedy Coulibaly are only a few examples. Merah also killed three French soldiers, and Coulibaly was an accomplice of brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi who carried out the terrorist attack at the Charlie Hebdo newspaper, killing 12 people.
Reactions:
After the mayor’s statement was revealed and opposition parties harshly criticised it, he apologized on his website for his "unfortunate expressions". The mayor also met Ilan Mor, Ambassador of Israel in Hungary, who accepted his apology and considered the case closed, the daily Népszabadság reported. Within Get the Trolls Out, The Center for Independent Journalism (CIJ) has reacted to the mayor’s antisemitic statement with a satirical cartoon appeared on by the weekly Vasárnapi Hírek on the 5th of December.
HUNGARY - Conspiracy theories on the power behind power
Date of publication: 28 November 2015
Media outlet: Facebook
Text: “The real leaders of the EU”
Description of the antisemitic content: The text and the photo suggest that who is in power in Europe is not what it seems but the Jewish leaders.
Myth Debunked:
The original picture was taken at Holocaust Remembrance Day on 27 January 2013. It shows the European Parliament President Martin Schulz next to, among others, the President of the European Jewish Community Center, and the General Director of the European Jewish Organization. In this image, they are more easily identifiable as Jews than other Jewish individuals because of traditional elements (in this case the beard and in some cases also the hat). By adding the title “The real leaders of the EU” to the picture, the author of this post suggests that the real leadership of the European Union is in “Jewish hands”. It is another example of the antisemitic stereotype associating Jewish individuals with power and influence (see, among others, the Greek examples in the October Highlights).
HUNGARY- Old stereotypes and new conspiracy theories on the refugee crisis
Date of publication: 30 October 2015
Media outlet: Facebook
Text: “Migrants trained by the US are coming. Islam is the gun of bankers against Europe. A similar war is taking place as in times of Mohács. [Editor’s note: The battle at Mohacs took place in 1526 when Turks invaded the Hungarian empire]. Bankers fired Islam on Europe. Not to mention that they deliberately divided the Christian military forces between the Catholic and Calvinistic forces. 1526 is the end of Christianity.”
Description of the antisemitic content:
Whereas the text is not antisemitic per se, the picture portrays a person named “Moses”, with a yellow star on its chest and the name of “Citibank” on his head, coming out of the earth and saying “Shalom”. On the other smaller picture, Torah scrolls are “banned”, with the word “terror” and skull and crossbones. The image gathers elements that are generally associated with Jewishness for antisemitic purposes.
Myth Debunked:
The picture represents key elements of antisemitic cartoons. Symbols such as the name “Moses”, the yellow star, the word “shalom”, and the Torah scrolls are used to identify Jews, even though the word is not mentioned. The association with the other symbols is typical of antisemitic stereotypes and prejudice: the association with the United States and thus with “power” and “wealth”; the association of the Torah scrolls with skulls and bones; the association of a caricature of a Jew with “Citibank”, i.e. money. This is a clear example of stereotypes that (in the case of the two last examples) date back to the Middle Ages and are resurging today.
BELGIUM - Conspiracy theories on the refugee crisis
Date of publication: 11 November 2015
Media outlet: Pas L’Info on YouTube
Quotes:
Pas L’Info Interview: Laurent Louis
After stating his support to the Syrian army and the government of Bashar al-Assad whom Laurent Louis calls “the only president who defends the interests of his population, of his people and who fights next to him in order to defend his interests” [“le seul president qui défend les intérêts de sa population, de son people et qui se bat à ses côtés pour défendre ses intérêts”], Laurent Louis affirms that “there is a will in Europe to make as many people come to Europe, in order to create racism” [“il y a une volonté en Europe de faire venir énormément de personnes pour créer le racisme”].
Laurent Louis asks (08:55): “What is the interest of Zionism in having these refugees come to Europe? As I said earlier: create racism in Europe, and secondly: it is a whole lot easier to colonize depopulated land, a lot easier to create Greater Israel when Syria is depopulated. That is what is at the core of what is happening in the Middle East today.” [“Quel est l’intérêt du sionisme de faire venir ces réfugiés en Europe ? Comme je l’ai dit tout à l’heure : créer le racisme en Europe, et deuxièmement il est tellement plus facile de coloniser une terre qui est dépeuplée, tellement plus facile de créer le grand Israël si la Syrie est dépeuplée. Voilà ce qui se met en œuvre partout dans le Moyen Orient aujourd’hui.”]
Description of the antisemitic content:
To blame the problem of the refugees in Europe on Israel and imply that “Zionist forces” are the reason Syrian refugees are coming to Europe portrays Israel in the exact same eye that the Jew is being portrayed by antisemites: manipulative, conducting a plot, conspiring. There is no possible justification for this statement and it is clearly a conspiracy.
About the author: Laurent Louis, the author of the antisemitic statements, is a well-known antisemitic far-left Belgian politician. These comments were made during in an interview in which he discussed his trip to Syria.
About the source: Pas l’Info describes itself as an alternative news media, seeking to deliver the truth that traditional media do not disclose.
Myth Debunked:
Laurent Louis uses the word “Zionism” without any introduction or explaining his choice of word. As often in the current European antisemitic discourse, “Zionist” is used as a curse and distorted from its original meaning: Zionism is a Jewish national-political movement founded in 1896 by the Austrian journalist Theodor Herzl with the aim of re-establishing a Jewish homeland in the Holy Land. But the yearning to return to Zion (the hill upon which the Temple of Jerusalem was built and the biblical term for both the Land of Israel and Jerusalem) is a key element of Jewish religious life since the Jewish exile from the land two thousand years ago, and is embedded in Jewish prayer, ritual, literature and culture.
Here, Louis uses current hot topics such as the humanitarian situation in Syria, the refugee crisis, and ISIS to direct them all towards one “responsible”, namely “the Zionist”: “what is the interest of Zionism in having these refugees come to Europe? As I said earlier: create racism in Europe, and secondly: it is a whole lot easier to colonize depopulated land, a lot easier to create Greater Israel when Syria is depopulated. That is what is at the core of what is happening in the Middle East today.” Louis thus links the refugee crisis to “Zionism” by a particularly absurd distortion of reality: according to him, refugees are forced to leave their countries, in order to create racism in Europe, and in order to depopulate Syria to create a “greater Israel”. This example shows the antisemitic stereotype of a Jewish conspiracy responsible for the evil of the world; the misuse of the word Zionism/Zionist; the hiding, in this particular context, of the word “Jew” behind the word “Zionist”.
UNITED KINGDOM - Nazi propaganda and vile trolling
Description of the antisemitic content:
Izzy Lenga, education officer at Birmingham Guild of Students, tweeted a photo of a “Hitler was right” poster found at the University of Birmingham with the text “for those who don’t think antisemitism is a serious issue, these were plastered over campus”. After her tweet, Izzy Lenga was harassed with antisemitic messages.
The reactions:
Izzy Lenga spoke up at the National Union of Students conference and the NUS president, Megan Dunn, stood up against antisemitism on Huffington Post. Several public figures, such as MP Luciana Berger and MP Jess Philips showed their support to Izzy Lenga. Thanks to the intervention of the Community Security Trust (CST), a few Twitter accounts have been closed. CST spoke directly with Twitter and the police have been informed of the situation. Get The Trolls Out ridiculed the claim of the poster with a cartoon by Ruben Oppenheimer.
Myth Debunked:
Posting a picture of Hitler with the title “Hitler was right” is a contemporary example of antisemitism: in this specific case, it is not denying the Shoah, but rather supporting the genocide of 6 million European Jews. Here, it is the expression of antisemitic harassment directed both at one Jewish individual, as well as at Jews in general (see the content of the tweets). It shows that both expressions are intimately connected (attacking one individual, or the identity, or the community he or she represents). In this case it is especially worrying that this antisemitic act took place at a university campus – which is meant to be a place of education, freedom of mind and critical thinking, with a strong representation of the youth – and most of all, that the antisemitic statement was strengthened through a huge amount of tweets. This also poses a serious question about the role of twitter in controlling and monitoring hateful tweets.
