on 17th and 18th December, a video of Italian PM Giorgia Meloni went viral on social media. As per the subtitles in the video, she was seen saying that Islam is not compatible with European values and culture. Islam is being perpetrated (in Italy) through Saudi Arabia’s funding and Saudi Arabia has Sharia law. Meloni further says that the Sharia law is not compatible with Europian values and culture.
The whole of Europe is being Islamised.
— The Analyzer (News Updates🗞️) (@Indian_Analyzer) December 17, 2023
There is no similarity between our culture and Islam.
Islam is being spread by Saudi in Italy.
There is Sharia law in Saudi, which we will not allow to be implemented in Italy.
: Georgia Meloni, PM, Italy pic.twitter.com/uCqYhpodBu
The same alleged statement was reported by a number of media houses, mostly Indian.
"यूरोप में हमारी सभ्यता के मूल्यों से बहुत दूर इस्लामीकरण की एक प्रक्रिया चल रही है."
— News24 (@news24tvchannel) December 17, 2023
◆ इटली की प्रधानमंत्री जॉर्जिया मेलोनी ने कहा #Europe #Islam | #GeorgiaMeloni pic.twitter.com/VRiLgytMfs
Many media portals reported that her statement came after the recent political festival held in Italy by her party, The Brothers of Italy party, where UK PM Rishi Sunak and Elon Musk were also in attendance.
A number of Indian media houses including WION, Hindustan Times, Mint, NDTV, and Times Now reported the same claims.
NDTV used a X post embed of a handle named Geopolitical Kid and wrote that Meloni’s statement was given during the political event organised by her party.
However, Meloni’s statement regarding Islam’s alleged incompatibility wasn’t found in any international publications in the last 24-hour window.
Radio Genoa, a popular handle on X, seemed to have first posted the video.
Italian PM Giorgia Meloni: “I believe that there is a problem of compatibility between Islamic culture and the values and rights of our civilization. The Islamic cultural centers in Italy are financed by Saudi Arabia where Sharia is in force. In Europe there is a very… pic.twitter.com/wEn8Fl4JC2
— RadioGenoa (@RadioGenoa) December 17, 2023
However, Radio Genoa has not cited a time frame, and has not written that Meloni’s statement was recent.
Upon searching with the keywords and comparing it with Meloni’s video clip going viral, we found that the original video was posted on YouTube back in 2018.
The video was posted by the YouTube channel alanews in 2018.
The original video can be seen here.
In the video, Meloni is seen saying, “Salvini says that Islam is incompatible with the constitution? Ask him for clarification, but I believe that Islam certainly presents incompatibility with our values and our civilization, and what happens in Islamic centers demonstrates this. This does not mean generalizing, but there is an incompatibility with our culture.”
In that video, Meloni was referring to a previous statement by another conservative leader Matteo Salvini. Salvini, referring to the Cologne mass sexual attacks and Berlin terrorist attack, had said that Islam is incompatible with European values. Salvni is a leader of Italy’s Lega Nord party.
Conclusion: While the viral video of Giorgia Meloni is mostly correct in rough translation, the video, or the statement, are not recent. They are from 5 years ago, and not from the recent political event organised by Meloni’s party.
