What Middle East news got wrong this week: Japan as an Islamophobic paradise

The Story

This week, Israeli based news website JewsNews.co.il attempted to prove to the world that persecuting Muslims will solve any nation’s problems by publishing and sharing a post headlined: "Japan imposed these severe restrictions on muslims…this is why they’re the only country on earth not having problems".

The headline was accompanied by this image:

The Blunder

The above is pretty much all false. Take for example the points about Japan not allowing Muslims to have citizenship, permanent residency or even rent houses - this is entirely untrue as Japan’s religious freedom means that potential immigrants are never asked their religion. This religious freedom also means that propagation of Islam is not banned.

And Japan has embassies in numerous Muslim-majority countries including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Libya. And what makes it worse is that the website’s ‘About Us’ page states:

“Truth is a missing component of the modern world, and our desire is to bring it back to the Jewish news that you receive each day.”

Of course, when something like this is shared by a popular news site like JewsNews.co.il then people will believe it. Here are some of those Islamophobes on Twitter who didn’t check their facts:

Japan has it right on this one..No Muslims,,No Jihad No ISIS https://t.co/YTrtYxPKvj

— I Love #America (@EstherDixon1) November 10, 2015

Japan imposed these severe restrictions on muslims…this is why they’re the only country on earth not having problems https://t.co/qyj9AayUxt

— Zeev (@ZeevBA) November 10, 2015

Sometimes I wish I lived in Japan. Free of Islam. They got it right. Can't stand all that Muslims stand for. Not racist,Muslim isn't a race.

— Daniel Cunningham (@Dan_CCunningham) November 9, 2015

Hey Elaine,lots of problems would be solved if the next President adopts Japan's restriction on muslims.Just Saying https://t.co/QTEqabETub

— Ken Franklin (@Ken200960) November 11, 2015

By Kane Hippisley-Gatherum

This is the latest installment of a new column at The Loop, looking at what went wrong in the Middle East's headlines every week.