By Nivedita Niranjankumar
An old speech by Abdullah II, King of Jordan talking about faith and curbing hate speech and those spreading it, at a 2018 event in New Delhi is viral with a false claim that it is from the G20 summit that concluded on September 10, 2023.
BOOM found that the speech is from a 2018 event ‘Islamic Heritage: Promoting Understanding and Moderation’ held during King Abdullah's visit to New Delhi.
The Group of 20 (G20) summit was hosted by India on September 9-10 and attended by world leaders like US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The leaders over both days discussed several topics and reached a consensus on additional focus on health and education for all, gender equality, building a better digital infrastructure with a focus on a safe, secure internet, and accelerating progress on Sustainibility Development Goals. While the consensus did not condemn Russia for its act of war against Ukraine, it did mention acts of terror and how countries should refrain from conquering by force.
In the video, King Abdullah II talks about the importance of faith and the crucial role it plays in the functioning of societies and the world. While talking about India, its history with Islam and harmony among religions, King Abdullah says, "...the truth is that today’s global war against terror is not a fight between different religions or peoples. It is between moderates, of all faiths and communities, against extremists whose faith is hate and violence." He further adds that hatred and those spreading it should not be focussed up on and that it is necessary to, "...take back the airwaves, and the Internet from the voices of hatred..." He adds, it is important to "...recognise and reject the misinformation such groups promote about Islam, or indeed, any other faith." and that, "Too much of what’s heard in the news or seen online about religion today is all about what separates people. Around the world, suspicions are inflamed by what different groups don’t know about others. And such ideologies of hate distort the word of God to stir up conflict and justify crimes and terror."
The viral video of Abdullah II is being shared claiming he was one of the leaders present at the G20 and the speech was addressed to leaders present.
The text claims, "King of Jordan in India G 20 Summit address 10 min on faith. A Harsh slap on the face of Hindu Fundamentalists and Hate Mongers in Modi Regime. India is lossing Democratic values under Modi Leadership unfortunately we are not excepting & not Realising the Global Realities due Godi Media Hindu & Muslim propaganda." (sic)
FACT CHECK
We noticed that the viral video had the logo of RSTV (Rajya Sabha TV) a government-run news channel now integrated into Sansad TV. Using this, we ran a keyword search for 'RSTV Jordan King' and found a video matching the viral one uploaded on the YouTube channel of Sansad TV. The video was uploaded on March 1, 2018 with the title, 'Jordanian King Abdullah II's Speech | Islamic Heritage: Promoting Understanding and Moderation'.
King Abdullah II can be heard giving the same speech in the above video and the background and his attire also matched.
We then ran a search for the event name 'Islamic Heritage: Promoting Understanding and Moderation' and found several news stories about it published in 2018. India Today in its story from March 1, 2018 reported about Abdullah II's visit to New Delhi, his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and both their speeches at the event attended by Muslim community leaders.
The India Today report quotes the King as saying, "We need to take the voices of hatred away from television and social media," which matches the speech in the viral video.
Additionally, a further search led us to the official website of the King where details of his visit and speech were recorded and uploaded on March 1, 2018.
