Two antisemitic incidents in France and Germany filmed and shared online
A man in France threatened a Jewish couple after saying Hitler had not 'finished the job', while a drunk man in Germany gave the Hitler salute to women and children
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
Die Polizei wurde am Dienstag zum Spielplatz an der Thüringer Straße in Witzenhausen gerufen (Symbolbild). © Marijan Murat/dpa
Photograph: hna.de (embedded from source)
What this story says
- A man in a French supermarket told a Jewish couple he was sorry Hitler had not 'finished the job', then threatened to shoot them. The victims filmed the incident and posted it online, where it received roughly 1 million views.
- A 36-year-old man in Witzenhausen, Germany, was arrested after insulting, threatening and giving the Hitler salute to three women and children on a playground. His blood alcohol level was nearly 1.9 per mille.
- The German incident occurred in Werra-Meißner-Kreis, a region described in a monitoring report as a right-wing extremist hotspot, with multiple Nazi symbol incidents reported earlier in 2026.
- Both incidents were filmed by the victims and shared on social media, drawing widespread attention to the antisemitic remarks and threats.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 7 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. Coverage measured .
Trust
65/100
Craft
60/100
Hype
55/100
7 sources · methodology
Thin on the left so far
Only 1 of the 7 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
A Jewish couple from Australia were threatened by a man in a supermarket in France after he told them he was sorry Adolf Hitler had not 'finished the job'. The man, who identified himself as 'Paddy from Ireland', later threatened to shoot the couple, saying, 'Get the fuck away from me before I put a fucking bullet in your head.' The incident was filmed by one of the victims, Karen Ivers, and shared on social media, where it received roughly 1 million views within hours.
In Witzenhausen, Germany, a 36-year-old man was arrested on 11 August 2026 after insulting, threatening and giving the Hitler salute to three women and children on a playground. Police said the man, who has German citizenship, was heavily intoxicated, with a blood alcohol level of nearly 1.9 per mille. He was charged with using symbols of unconstitutional organisations, insult and threats.
The German incident occurred in Werra-Meißner-Kreis, a district described in a monitoring report as a right-wing extremist hotspot. Earlier in 2026, the area saw multiple incidents involving Nazi symbols, including 21 swastikas painted on a Jewish cemetery in Witzenhausen and 33 Nazi symbols spray-painted on a street.
What the coverage left out
None of the right-rated digests mentioned the arrest in Germany or the context of Werra-Meißner-Kreis as a right-wing extremist hotspot. The left-rated report from Ynet News did not mention the German incident. The centre-rated digest from the Jerusalem Post did not carry details of the German arrest or the earlier Nazi symbol incidents in Werra-Meißner-Kreis.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 4 times, most recently on 12 Aug 2026, 18:45, and will add the sides that appear.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
1 rated outlet
- The only left-rated report, published by Ynet News, led on the antisemitic remark and the death threat made by the man in France. It carried the victims' account of the incident, including the initial friendly exchange that turned hostile. The report quoted Karen Ivers directly, describing how the man approached the couple because her husband was wearing a French football shirt and they were speaking English. It also included her statement that the man became aggressive after she criticised Irish politics as anti-Israel and supportive of Hamas and Hezbollah.
- Ynet News used the victims' names and described them as a Jewish couple from Australia. It quoted Ivers' social media post, where she called the man an 'Irish Nazi psychopath' and urged people to 'make this Irish Nazi psychopath famous'. The report included the full transcript of the video, confirming the death threat and the initial remark about Hitler.
Centre
2 rated outlets
- The two centre-rated reports, one from hna.de and one digest from the Jerusalem Post, led on different incidents. hna.de's full report focused on the German incident, detailing the arrest of the 36-year-old man who gave the Hitler salute and threatened women and children on a playground. It carried the man's blood alcohol level, the charges against him, and the context of Werra-Meißner-Kreis as a right-wing extremist hotspot.
- hna.de described the victims as three women with migration backgrounds and their children, aged one to ten. It quoted police as saying the man insulted and threatened the women without provocation. The report also mentioned earlier incidents in the area, including swastikas painted on a Jewish cemetery and a street.
- The Jerusalem Post's digest, meanwhile, led on the French incident, reporting that the Australian Jewish couple had been in contact with a French Jewish security group after the threat. It attributed the account to the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AJA) President Robert Gregory.
Right
4 rated outlets
- All four right-rated digests led on the French incident, describing the man as an 'Irish tourist' or 'Irish citizen' who told the Jewish couple he was sorry Hitler had not 'finished the job'. Three of the digests, from Arutz Sheva, VINnews and i24NEWS, carried the death threat, quoting the man's words: 'Get the fuck away from me before I put a fucking bullet in your head.'
- WIN's digest included a social media post from a user named Daniel, who described the man's face as 'the face of pure hatred'. The digests identified the victims as Jewish and, in some cases, as Australian or visitors. None of the right-rated digests mentioned the German incident.
Read it at the source
7 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
1Centre
2- ‘Hitler didn't finish the job’: Man threatens to shoot Australian Jews in France, AJA tells 'Post' (opens Jerusalem Post in a new tab)
Jerusalem Post — is Jerusalem Post biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Hitler's Greeting on Playground: Man Threatens Women and Children in Witzenhausen (opens hna.de in a new tab)
Right
4- Chilling threat against Jewish couple in France (opens Arutz Sheva in a new tab)
Arutz Sheva — is Arutz Sheva biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Irish Tourist In France Tells Jewish Couple ‘Sorry Hitler Didn’t Finish The Job’ (opens VINnews in a new tab)
- "Sorry that Hitler Didn't Finish the Job": an Irish Tourist Threatens a Jewish Couple in France (opens i24NEWS in a new tab)
- Irish man threatens to kill Jewish couple, praises Hitler (opens WIN in a new tab)
Not rated
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Two antisemitic incidents in France and Germany filmed and shared online?
- Of the 7 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 14% are rated left, 29% are rated centre, 57% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Two antisemitic incidents in France and Germany filmed and shared online left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 7 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of Two antisemitic incidents in France and Germany filmed and shared online biased?
- Two antisemitic incidents in France and Germany filmed and shared online is one event reported by 7 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting Two antisemitic incidents in France and Germany filmed and shared online?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered Two antisemitic incidents in France and Germany filmed and shared online?
- 7 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- What did the man in France say to the Jewish couple?
- The man, who identified himself as 'Paddy from Ireland', told the Jewish couple he was sorry Adolf Hitler had not 'finished the job'. He later threatened to shoot them, saying, 'Get the fuck away from me before I put a fucking bullet in your head.' The incident was filmed and shared online, receiving roughly 1 million views.
- What happened in the German incident?
- A 36-year-old man in Witzenhausen, Germany, was arrested after insulting, threatening and giving the Hitler salute to three women and children on a playground. His blood alcohol level was nearly 1.9 per mille. The incident occurred in Werra-Meißner-Kreis, a region described as a right-wing extremist hotspot.
- Which outlets reported on both incidents?
- Only the centre-rated hna.de reported on the German incident in full, while the Jerusalem Post's digest mentioned the French incident. The left-rated Ynet News and all right-rated digests focused solely on the French incident, omitting the German arrest and its context.
How did this read?
About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.
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