Sensationalist Anti-Muslim Articles in Greece, Hungary and UK, Downplaying of Antisemitism in Belgium, antisemitic accusations in a German podcast and a right-wing movement spreading hate in Belgium.

In October’s media monitoring, we saw sensationalist anti-Muslim reporting in Greek and British media, in France a French writer claimed Jewish victims of a terrorist attack “were not French” because they were buried in Israel, in Germany a podcast accused Jewish people of fabricating antisemitism to make money, in Belgium we saw the downplaying of antisemitism, as well as a far-right movement spreading misinformation and hate, and in Hungary an news portal published alarmist reporting reproducing Islamophobic narratives about ‘Violent Muslim Students’.

Greece – Anti-Muslim Articles on ‘Sharia police’ Keep Being Based on Rumours

Greek outlet Europost.gr published an article in October titled: “The situation in the centre of Athens is out of control: fanatical Islamist's ‘patrol’ to enforce Sharia”.

The article focusses on an apparent brutal beating of a 17-year-old girl in Athens because she refused an arranged marriage to an older man. Apart from the lack of solid evidence and sensationalist style of reporting, this Greek media outlet promoted anti-Muslim narratives. For instance, the picture used shows an Islamic State (IS) fighter alongside a picture of Athens, suggesting that IS fighters are patrolling the streets in Greece, which is simply false.

The author uses little to no data or factual evidence, focusing instead on rumours. This is not the only article of its kind in the Greek press; our monitors have noted an increase in sensationalist articles like this riddled with misinformation.

Belgium – News Site Downplays Seriousness of Antisemitic and Racist Content

In Belgium, a woman was convicted for hate speech after sharing racist and antisemitic memes and videos on social media.

The woman in question wrote and shared this content between March 2019 and January 2020, which included a mocking post about the Christchurch terrorist attack. As reported by The Brussels Times, “the woman received a six-month suspended prison sentence and a €320 fine.”

The director of Unia, an independent public institution that fights discrimination and promotes equal opportunities in Belgium, commented: “Within the right-wing extremist milieu, we see a shift from offline to online activism that equally threatens public order and social cohesion. Research shows that violent acts are encouraged by virtual activism on social media. This conviction, therefore, sends a strong signal and sets an extremely important precedent.

The rare conviction for hate speech was covered by many media outlets, including Doorbraak.be. Its author Johan Sanctorum downplayed the seriousness of the content shared equating the antisemitic social media posts as being a mere expression of freedom of opinion and satire. He described the hate speech conviction as a symptom of ‘Islamification’.

Though this is not a surprising editorial stance for Doorbraak.be, it is worrying that the seriousness of hate speech dissemination is downplayed, and the content shared by the woman made to seem acceptable.

UK – Questionable Coverage of Norway Attack in British Press

On the 14th of October, four people were killed and two others wounded when a man attacked them with a sharp object. It was reported that police had previously been in contact with the perpetrator over fears of radicalisation after he converted to Islam.

Some British media such as the Daily Mail, chose to heavily focus on the fact that the perpetrator was a Muslim convert, regularly referring to him as a “radicalized Muslim convert” in their headlines. Whilst this is factually correct, it was also reported that the attacker also had serious mental health issues and had shown worrying behaviour in the past, something which was not as focussed on in the Daily Mail’s reporting.

The Centre for Media Monitoring, based in the UK, explained: "Bow & arrow attacker in Norway was known to police, had a history of mental illness, was a petty criminal, drug user and threatened to shoot his own father. But many in the British media choose to focus on the "convert to Islam" narrative before a motive has been established."

The issue here is the difference in reporting on attacks like this based on the religion or cultural background of the perpetrator, and the impact this has on religious communities.

Poland – TV Station Broadcast Extreme Anti-Muslims and Xenophobic Content Based on False Facts

In a broadcast on TV Republika, a right-wing TV station, commentator Rafal Otoka-Frackiewicz alleges that that paedophilia and zoophilia are customary in Muslim countries, and that it is a part of the Muslim culture.

In a segment about the current refugee crisis on the Polish-Belorussian border, he made claims about refugees being trained in bomb-making and having , unnatural erotic interests. This comes at the same time when Poland's Ministers of Interior and National Defence in a press conference that was broadcast on public television presented a photo showing an alleged migrant having sexual intercourse with a cow.

It was later revealed that the image was in fact a frame from an old pornographic film. Rafal Otoka-Frackiewicz's segment was viewed by over 68,000 people; however, perhaps much more worrying is the fact that spreading such misinformation and false facts by the Polish government is being normalised.

This is creating an extremely dangerous situation where refugees and migrants and being wrongfully accused of serious crimes by the EU countries’ government officials.

Belgium – Extreme-Right Movement Spreads Misinformation and Hateful Content

Nation is a Belgian extreme-right movement and party which raises concerns for its overtly xenophobic, anti-religious and Islamophobic content. Whilst such content has been on their platform for some time, we flagged some particularly worrying articles in October.

In an article published on the 21st of October under the headline "The 'great replacement', myth or reality?", Nation propagates the idea of an ongoing and tangible replacement of Europeans by extra-Europeans. It overtly hints at an alleged incompatibility of cultures whilst reifying European identity as a fixed and pure essence. Islam is presented as antithetic in a relation to women’s rights. Europe is said to be "invaded.”

Such discourse is highly problematic as much as it is damaging to the targeted communities. Nation claims ties with nationalists and extreme-right wing parties across Europe.

Amongst others, it mentions partnerships with the German NPD, Italian Forza Nuova, and the major far-right extremist party in the Czech Republic, DSSS. Nation puts forward friendship with Jean Marie Le Pen and German neo-Nazi Udo Voigt.

Immigration, Islamisation and insecurity are the core concerns of the movement. Nation regularly posts racist and Islamophobic on its website.

France – Jewish Victims of 2012 Toulouse Attack “were not French” because of their Burial in Israel

Speaking on TV France 2, Eric Zemmour, far-right polemicist and probable presidential candidate in French elections next year, said that the victims of the 2012 terrorist attack on a Jewish school in Toulouse were not really French because they were all buried outside France.

He published the same claim in his new book ‘France has not said its last word’, where he blames the victims' families for burying their bodies in Israel instead of France. On France 2, Zemmour also drew a parallel between the victims and the attacker, Mohammed Marah, whose family requested to bury him in Algeria. Speaking of both, Zemmour said they ‘didn't belong to France’.

These claims horrified the Jewish community of Toulouse, who are also outraged by the promotion of his book. With his comments, Eric Zemmour further restricts what it means ‘to be French’ (‘Anthropologists teach us that we come from the country where we are buried’, Zemmour said), while also failing to explain that the victims were buried in Israel for their religious beliefs.

Germany – Podcast Accused Jewish to Fabricate Antisemitism to Make Money

The Kanal Schnellroda is a German podcast known for its far-right and extremist views. On the 8th of October, the podcast hosts discussed the antisemitic incident that happened to the singer Gil Ofarim. During the check-in at Westin Hotel Leipzig in Germany, the musician was told by an employee to remove his chain with the Star of David.

In their comments, the podcast’s presenters accused organisations such as the Amadeu Antonio Foundation of fabricating antisemitic incidents purposely in order to receive funds. The podcast hosts claimed that taxpayers' money helps Jewish communities "to preserve their position and their rank of victimisation in comparison to other groups".

This accusation is very dangerous. It uses age-old antisemitic tropes falsely accusing Jewish people to fabricate or exaggerate antisemitism with the goal of making money. It denies anti-Jewish hatred and depicts Jewish people as both greedy and fraudsters.

Hungary - News Portal Reproduced Islamophobic Narratives about ‘Violent Muslim Students’

The right-wing and pro-government Hungarian news portal 888, published an article titled “Teacher attacked by Muslim Student.”

Using sensationalistic tones, 888.hu reported on an incident in a school close to Paris. “Yassine went to the teacher during class and began to insult and threaten in the name of Allah and the Qur’an,” states the article.

The outlet reports that the teacher received several death threats and can only work if escorted by the police. The Hungarian portal’s sensationalistic reporting style fuelled Islamophobia and anti-Muslim narratives already present in the country’s public sphere.

The reference to the anniversary of the murder of French teacher Samuel Paty, and the suggestion that teachers’ assassinations are worse than ever, create unfounded alarms and panic.

The article also promotes the work of Didier Lemaire, a philosophy teacher with Islamophobic views that recently published a book about the intensity of Islamism in French schools.

This reporting reproduces a dangerous stereotype where young Muslims are portrayed as violent due to their religious and cultural beliefs.