SEPTEMBER 2015 - MEDIA MONITORING HIGHLIGHTS
The highlights of September is an overview of the media monitoring activities, as part of the project. In this article, you will find our reports from Greece, Hungary and the United Kingdom.
GREECE
Date of publication: 18 September 2015
Media outlet: Eleftheri Ora (Ελεύθερη Ώρα)
Link: http://www.naftemporiki.gr/frontpages/18/09/2015/imerisies-politikes/eleytheri-ora/full
Headline: “’How [Tsipras] is playing the Zionist game’ – General Aifantis: ‘Tsipras is an Islamised Jew.’ Syriza wants to complete the murder of the Greek nation.”
Description of the antisemitic content: The headline includes a quote by a Greek far right-wing retired general. Though atheist, Tsipras, leader of the left-wing government party Syriza, is labelled by the general as an Islamised Jew. This description - a combination of Judaism, Islam, and Left - seems to aim at provoking the readers' adversion. The headline implies that Syriza cannot be trusted because its leader is an “Islamised Jew”.
About the source:Eleftheri Ora is an ultra-right-wing newspaper repeatedly spreading antisemitic speech. The paper often relates what they perceive to be an “evil” or catastrophe -either national or international- with Jews.
Myth Debunked:
This is a perfect example of combined antisemitism and islamophobia. In this article, Jews and Muslims are both made responsible for the evil of the world, specifically in a time of economic crisis. It draws on the stereotype of a world conspiracy created by minorities (here, the Jewish and the Muslim one). This article also shows that antisemitism is directed not only toward Jews and the Jewish identity, but also toward people who are allegedly Jewish.
GREECE
Date of publication: 15 September 2015
Media outlet: Eleftheri Ora (Ελεύθερη Ώρα)
Link: http://www.naftemporiki.gr/frontpages/15/09/2015/imerisies-politikes/eleytheri-ora/full
Headline: “The horrible predictions concerning Jewish ‘Shmita’ – the ‘year of Lucifer’ began on September 13th!”
Caption: “The Rabbi: 'the invasion of Islam in Europe and the destruction of Christianity are ‘great news’, because this way the Messiah will come”!
Description of the antisemitic content:The headline links the Jewish Sabbath year (Shmita) with Lucifer and other threatening events.
About the source:Eleftheri Ora is an ultra-right-wing newspaper repeatedly spreading antisemitic speech. The paper often relates what they perceive to be an “evil” or catastrophe -either national or international- with Jews.
Myth Debunked:
This article shows that even today in 2015, myths from the Middle Ages are used to serve antisemitic purposes, here specifically in the extreme Christian orthodox realm. The myth of the Jews as Satanic draws back to the Middle Ages and has been constantly reappearing in antisemitic media until today. Shmita is the seventh year of the seven-year agricultural cycle mandated by the Torah, the Hebrew Bible.
HUNGARY
Headline: “Charlie Hebdo is making fun of the Syrian kid drowned into water – Jews are allowed to do anything”
Description of the antisemitic content:The article identifies the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo with Jews and blames them for the publication of a cartoon on Aylan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy whose body was washed up on a Turkish beach while trying to reach Europe.
About the source:Kuruc is an antisemitic website that often identifies media owners and producers with Jews. In this piece, Kuruk distorted an article originally published by Blikk, a popular tabloid in Hungary. The original piece did not contain antisemitic features, but Kuruc.info added adjectives and details to the original piece and thus twisting the whole content. It actually discredits Blikk because this paper was quoted as a source of information.
Myth Debunked:
Even though there were Jewish people among the victims of the Charlie Hebdo terror attack on 7 January 2015, here the identification of all Charlie Hebdo cartoonists with Jews is a simplification and distortion of reality in order to put the blame on the Jewish people for a very controversial cartoon. It draws on the myth of Jews “controlling” the media, whereas in fact they are not disproportionately represented in the media. This impression is due to the fact that the Jewish background or name of a person, in case of a successful career, is often highlighted by the media.
UNITED KINGDOM
Date of publication: 16 September 2015
Media outlet: BBC
Link: http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/145124/shock-over-caricature-bbc-proms-programme
