By Archis Chowdhury
A five-year-old video of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni saying Islam is not compatible with European culture, has been widely misreported by multiple Indian media outlets as a recent comment.
Meloni was recently accompanied by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at an event in Rome, organised by her far-right party Fratelli d'Italia (Fdi). Her five-year-old comment on Islam, made before she became prime minister, has been misleadingly reported as a statement made after this event by many news articles shared online.
BOOM was unable to find any recent comment on Islam by Meloni reported by Italian media since the recently held event. On October 25, 2023, Meloni made a speech in the Italian parliament, where she condemned Hamas' attack on Israel, along with Islamic terrorism. However, she also emphasised on the need for dialogue with Arab and Muslim countries, while cautioning against a "clash of civilisations".
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In the viral video being shared by many of the news outlets, Meloni can be heard saying, "I think that there is a problem of compatibility between Islamic culture, or a certain interpretation of Islamic culture and the rights and values of our civilisation. It does not escape my mind that most of the Islamic cultural centers in Italy are financed by Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is a nation that at home applies Sharia."
She added, "This doesn't mean generalizing about Islam but rather acknowledging a process of Islamization in Europe that diverges significantly from our civilization's values."
Hindustan Times published the story on December 17, and reported that Meloni's "comments come after the Italian prime minister hosted a political festival organised by her far-right party- the Brothers of Italy- in Rome which was attended by British prime minister Rishi Sunak."
"These sharp comments come as the leaders of Italy and the UK agreed on Saturday to tackle irregular migration to Europe, pledging to intensify cooperation in the fight against human trafficking," added a News18 report.
Others to misreport the old video as recent are Mint, NDTV, India Today, Swarajya, Tribune, Economic Times, OneIndia English, and OneIndia Hindi.
This doesn't mean generalizing about Islam but rather acknowledging a process of Islamization in Europe that diverges significantly from our civilization's values."The same was also reported by Hindi outlets Hindustan Live, Navbharat Times, Samachar Jagath, Nav Pradesh, Lokmat Hindi and ABP Live Hindi.
Fact-Check
BOOM searched for comments made by Meloni during and after the recent event she attended with Sunak in Rome, held by her party, but was unable to find any credible reports that would suggest she made any such remarks on Islam.
According to a report by Politico, Sunak invoked Margareth Thatcher and likened her to Meloni, while calling for stricter actions on illegal immigration.
Using Google Translate, we performed a keyword search in Italian with "meloni islam incompatibile con nostra cultura (meloni islam incompatible with our culture)", and came across multiple articles by Italian media on the exact statement being made by her in 2018.
A report by Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano from February 8, 2018, carrying the exact same video, with a title in Italian, which translated to English as, "Elections, Meloni: “Salvini is right. Islam incompatible with our culture".
Italian digital news outlet Ala News also published the exact same video on its YouTube channel on February 9, 2018.
BOOM reached out to Federico Gonzato, fact-checker at Pagella Politica, who confirmed to us that the at the 2.11 mark in the video above you can view the segment being reported by the Indian media as recent.
Gonzato further told us that while Meloni had expressed critical views about Islam in the past, she toned it down since becoming the President of the Council of Ministers.
