Slovak citizen Daniel Bombic speaks of "Zion’s lackeys," "rats" installed by the "hook-nosed regime," and "Soros’s foreskin," while promoting Slovak extremist Holocaust denier Marián Magát’s book on "Judeocracy." Despite this, a Slovak court has issued an injunction ordering Denník N, a Slovak daily, to refrain from labelling Bombic as an antisemite.
Bombic can be seen on publicly available videos performing Nazi salutes and singing Nazi songs, expressing enthusiasm for neo-Nazi groups such as Juden Mord and Krátky Proces. Yet the court has barred journalists from referring to him as a neo-Nazi.
Experts consulted by the renowned investigative platform Bellingcat assert that Bombic’s channel spreads harmful and dangerous far-right disinformation. However, the court has prohibited reporters from calling him an extremist.
For years, Bombic has threatened journalists, doctors, and police investigators—essentially anyone who criticises him—by publishing their names and phone numbers on Telegram, exposing them to public harassment. Nevertheless, the court shields him from being identified by the labels that his own rhetoric aligns with.
Bombic is among the figures upon whom Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is building his new propaganda empire, fuelled by hatred, conspiracies, antisemitism, extremism, and neo-Nazism.
Today, antisemitism is a battle of euphemisms. Not every antisemite explicitly calls for sending Jews to the gas chambers (at least not publicly), but they speak of hooked noses, Khazars, global rulers, Zion, the cosmopolitan elite, the Jewish lobby, Illuminati, Judeo-Bolsheviks, Judeo-capitalists, horned and big-eared figures, poisoning the well, and 30 pieces of silver. Instead of Holocaust, they use the term like Holocough.
Social media has fostered extraordinary creativity in expressing hatred towards Jews while staying, at least outwardly, within the bounds of free speech.
The victory of many antisemites lies in their ability to exploit the tools of democracy and freedom of expression to spread hate, while simultaneously objecting when society labels them for what they truly are, provided they camouflage themselves well enough.
Through its association with Bombic, a man evading justice by hiding in the United Kingdom, Robert Fico’s government is bolstering a subculture of antisemitism and hatred directed against a segment of its own citizens.
This article was written in the framework of The Eastern Frontier Initiative (TEFI) project. TEFI is a collaboration of independent publishers from Central and Eastern Europe, to foster common thinking and cooperation on European security issues in the region. The project aims to promote knowledge sharing in the European press and contribute to a more resilient European democracy.
Members of the consortium are 444 (Hungary), Gazeta Wyborcza (Poland), SME (Slovakia), PressOne (Romania), and Bellingcat (The Netherlands).
The TEFI project is co-financed by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
Dzisiejsza gazeta (e-wydanie)
A person who speaks of the hook-nosed regime and Zion's lackeys is not an antisemite?