AFP Captions Whitewash Berlin Al Quds Rally
According to The Jerusalem Post (“Heavy Turnout at Al-Quds Rally in Berlin Calls for Israel’s Destruction“), participants at the June 9 anti-Israel Al Quds march in Berlin chanted “Zionists are the perpetrators” and “Zionists anywhere, you will lose everywhere.” The Jerusalem Post detailed:
A photograph of the protest showed a sign comparing Zionism to Nazis. Lebanese flags were also on display. Many of the marchers were Hezbollah supporters and members. Berlin’s domestic intelligence agency said in 2017 that 250 Hezbollah members operate in the capital city. The US, Israel, the Arab League, Canada and the Netherlands designated all of Hezbollah a terrorist organization. Germany refuses to outlaw all of Hezbollah.
A pro-boycott Israel sign was also shown at the rally, with the words: “Boycott Israel, Free Palestine.” Berlin’s total population is roughly 3.7 million.
“The law entitles the radical Muslim organization, with conditions, to assemble. A demonstration against the existence of Israel on the streets of Berlin is still intolerable,” BZ journalist Kai Ritzmann wrote on Saturday.
BILD journalist Antje Schippmann tweeted, “Also again at today’s antisemitic al-Quds march in Berlin: Ayatollah Hamidreza Torabi.”
Torabi, who heads the Islamic Academy of Germany – part of the Iranian regime owned Islamic Center of Hamburg, is a key organizer of the al-Quds. The Islamic Center buses pro-Hezbollah and pro-Iranian regime members and activists to the annual event.
Yet Agence France Presse captions about the march maintained that participants were “against the presence of Jewish settlements in Israeli-occupied territories,” ignoring that they actually oppose Zionism, and thus the existence of the Jewish state in any borders, not just in the West Bank.
A sampling of AFP’s erroneous captions falsely alleging that the protesters merely oppose Israeli settlements follows. (Note the sign calling for the boycott of Israel, not just the settlements. Note also the presence of the anti-Israel Jewish sect Neturai Karta with signs stating “Zionism and Judaism are extreme opposites.” There is zero indication that the marchers are simply opposed to Jewish settlements in the West Bank.)
A protester holds a sign reading “Boycott Israel, free Palestine” during a Quds-day Demonstration on the occasion of the so-called “Al-Quds day” in Berlin, on June 9, 2018. The “Quds day” (the day of Jerusalem), a commemoration first initiated by Iran in 1979 to fall on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan expresses support for displaced Palestinians and against the presence of Jewish settlements in Israeli-occupied territories.
Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP
Protesters hold signs reading “Zionism and Judaism are extreme opposites” during a Quds-day Demonstration on the occasion of the so-called “Al-Quds day” in Berlin, on June 9, 2018. The “Quds day” (the day of Jerusalem), a commemoration first initiated by Iran in 1979 to fall on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan expresses support for displaced Palestinians and against the presence of Jewish settlements in Israeli-occupied territories. Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP
Protesters take part in a Quds-day Demonstration on the occasion of the so-called “Al-Quds day” in Berlin, on June 9, 2018. The “Quds day” (the day of Jerusalem), a commemoration first initiated by Iran in 1979 to fall on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan expresses support for displaced Palestinians and against the presence of Jewish settlements in Israeli-occupied territories. Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP
CAMERA has contacted AFP to request corrections of these captions. As of this writing, AFP has yet to set the record straight.
See also: “AFP Last to Correct Its Own Arabic Mistranslation“
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