Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Claim
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni saying there is a problem of compatibility between Islamic culture and the “values and rights of our civilization”.
Fact
Video dates back to February 2018, where she is agreeing with a statement made by an Italian politician.
Several social media users are sharing a video, claiming to show Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni recently stating, “I believe… there is a problem of compatibility between Islamic culture and the values and rights of our civilization… Will not allow Sharia law to be implemented in Italy…. values of our civilization are different!”
The archived versions of the tweets can be seen here and here.
Fact Check
Newschecker ran a keyword search for “Giorgia Meloni Islamic culture”, which led us to multiple news reports, including NDTV, Times of India, Hindustan Times, and India Today, stating that a five-year-old video of Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has surfaced on social media, in which she said that Islamic culture and the values and rights of European civilisation have a “compatibility problem”.
“The video is from 2018 before she became the Prime Minister of Italy. Meloni was heard speaking in Italian in the old video. The video surfaced a day after an event was organised in Rome on Saturday by her right-wing, ultra-conservative Brothers of Italy party. The event was also attended by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak,” read an NDTV report.
Newschecker then ran a reverse image search of keyframes of the video, which led us to this Youtube video by Italian media outlet alanews, dated February 9, 2018, headlined, “Meloni: “Salvini is right, Islam is incompatible with our culture”. We learnt that Meloni was referring to a statement, reports seen here and here, made by Italian anti-migrant Northern League leader Matteo Salvini in February 2018. A similar report can be seen here, confirming that the viral video is from 2018.
Also Read: 2013 Video From Egypt Falsely Shared As Israeli Army’s Bulldozer Raid On Gaza Hospital
Conclusion
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s old statement on Islam being “incompatible” with Italian culture goes viral.
Result: Missing Context
Sources
NDTV report, December 19, 2023
Youtube video, alanews, February 9, 2018
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
