JEDDAH: The Secretary-General of the Muslim World League Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa stressed the importance of confronting hate speech spread via media platforms, promoting discrimination and violence leading to broader conflict.
Al-Issa was speaking at the one-day International Forum on the Propaganda of Hatred and Violence in Media on Sunday in Jeddah, attended by leaders of religious institutes, major Islamic and international news agencies, prominent religious, intellectual, legal, and human rights figures, and leaders of other international organizations.
The event was co-organized by the Assistant Secretariat for Corporate Communication in the MWL and the Union of OIC News Agencies.
Al-Issa called for strengthening the values of friendship between nations and peoples so that humanity can live in peace and security, away from the control of hatred in its ugliest forms and the use of double standards.
He stated that the international community faces the danger of “the media and its role in fueling hatred and violence.”
He said: “The media is well placed to inform, communicate, and connect citizens across the globe. Instead, in many cases, it acts as a powerful platform for discrimination, exclusion, and incitement to hatred and violence.”
He said brutal aggression against the Palestinian people by Israel is a disgrace to humanity and to the countries that support Israel, stressing that the Palestinian issue is a just international cause and of concern to Muslims across the world.
The organization of this forum comes amid an uptick in crimes against religious people and symbols under the pretext of freedom of expression, and bias and misinformation from some Western media outlets.
The General Supervisor of Official Media in the State of Palestine Ahmed Assaf told Arab News that the Western media has pushed a distorted narrative, spread disinformation, and parroted propaganda that has helped to manufacture consent for Israel’s violence against Palestinians.
He expressed his deep regret for the bias of the American and broader Western media towards Israel, and for publishing its accounts of the course of events in Gaza in a manner characterized by lies and denial of established facts.
Assaf said the Western media focused on unverified information about Israeli civilians, while neglecting the suffering of Palestinian civilians, especially children.
He said: “The Palestinian cause has suffered for 75 years of bias and misinformation from the major international media, which sought to erase and deny the truth.”
He also pointed out that the media focuses on a specific region to communicate its narrative, turning a blind eye to atrocities against the Palestinian people.
Meanwhile Sadguru Brahmeshanand Acharya, spiritual head of Shree Datta Faddmanabah and founder of the international Sadguru Foundation, spoke to Arab News during the forum.
“My message is very clear that we have come together and get united to spread the real truth to our societies,” he said. “Secondly, the fake news propaganda that has been spreading all over the news must stop.
“We all must follow what our holy books say, nothing is mentioned about war but we believe in dialogue to solve our problems.”
The forum discussed several topics, focusing on themes relevant to current issues such as “Bias and Misrepresentation in International Media: The Palestinian Issue as a Model.”
The forum concluded with a message to formulate a joint international alliance against the dangers of misrepresentation, bias, and the spread of hatred in media discourse.
