Fact Check: Old speech of Jordan’s King on curbing hate falsely linked to G20 summit
The video shows King Abdullah II speaking at an event, ‘Islamic Heritage: Promoting Understanding and Moderation,’ held during his visit to New Delhi in 2018.
By Md Mahfooz Alam Published on 12 Sep 2023 1:58 PM GMT
Screengrab of the X post.
A video of Jordan’s King Abdullah II speaking on the role of faith and curbing hate is viral on social media, claiming that he delivered the speech at the recently held G20 summit held in Delhi on September 9-10.
In the video, King Abdullah II Bin Al-Hussein talks about the crucial role faith plays in the functioning of societies and the world. While talking about India and its history with Islam, King Abdullah said: “...the truth is that today’s global war against terror is not a fight between different religions or people. It is between moderates of all faiths and communities against extremists whose faith is hate and violence.”
He further said: “The focus should not be on hatred and those spreading it. The airwaves and internet should be taken back from the voices of hatred.” Adding that “..It is important to recognise and reject the misinformation such groups promote about Islam or indeed any other faith. 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.”
An X user shared the video with the caption, “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 losing Democratic values under Modi's Leadership. Unfortunately, we are not accepting & not Realising the Global Realities due to Godi Media Hindu & Muslim propaganda.”
(Image Credit: X/@NeeralakeriINC)
Several Facebook users have shared the video claiming the same. (Click here and here to see the post.)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the video shows King Abdullah II speaking at an event, ‘Islamic Heritage: Promoting Understanding and Moderation,’ held during his visit to New Delhi in 2018.
We noticed the logo of Rajya Sabha TV in the viral video. Rajya Sabha TV was a government-run national channel, which has been merged with the newly launched Sansad TV. Taking this as a cue, we conducted a keyword search on the Sansad TV YouTube channel and found the full version of the video published on March 1, 2018, titled “Jordanian King Abdullah II's Speech | Islamic Heritage: Promoting Understanding and Moderation.”
“Jordan's King Abdullah II says we need to take back airwaves and internet from voices of hatred.” the description on the video reads.
We also found the same video published on March 1, 2018, on the official YouTube channel of Prime Minister Narendra Modi titled “His Majesty King Abdullah II speaks on Islamic Heritage: Promoting Understanding & Moderation.”
We also found the video and its transcript published on the official website of the King in a report titled “Speech of His Majesty King Abdullah II At the Conference on ‘Islamic Heritage: Promoting Understanding and Moderation.”
One of the paragraphs of the transcript reads, “We need to take back the airwaves, and the Internet from the voices of hatred—those who have victimised our world, not only with bombs and terror, but with ignorance and lies.”
Hence, we conclude that the video of Jordan's King Abdullah II speaking at a conference on Islamic heritage in Delhi is from 2018 and is being falsely linked to the G20 summit.
