Opinion
Israel's close friend is tainted by his own coalition partners
The shadow of the Austrian Chancellor's deputy is cast long over this visit to Israel, Liam Hoare writes
June 12, 2018 16:26
2 min read
The shadow of the Austrian Chancellor's deputy is cast long over this visit to Israel, Liam Hoare writes
June 12, 2018 16:26Austro-Israeli relations are bizarre, as one commentary in the liberal daily Der Standard put it Tuesday. The Israeli government maintains no official contacts with almost half the ministers in the Austrian government — those that are members of the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) — yet the bond between the two countries has, arguably, never been stronger.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s visit to Israel was, all in all, a success. Contacts between civil servants in the Austrian and Israeli foreign ministries are to be intensified and the two governments work will together on Holocaust commemoration issues.
“You’ve moved our relationship —which between Austria and Israel was always good — but you are taking it to greater heights,” Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told him.
Austrian responsibility for the Holocaust was a theme during Mr Kurz’s visit. “Austria and Austrians carry a heavy burden for the shameful crimes committed during the Shoah,” he said at Yad Vashem. “We Austrians know that we are responsible for our own history.”
To his credit, Mr Kurz has been consistent on Holocaust commemoration. He said in March, “We now recognise that Austria was not only a victim but a perpetrator.”
This year, his government committed to building a new Holocaust memorial — a wall of names — in the centre of Vienna.
The speaker of Austria’s parliament, Wolfgang Sobotka, of Mr Kurz’s People’s Party, attended Holocaust commemorations in May and also met Jewish communal leadership in Budapest during a recent visit to Hungary.
This is all very commendable and far removed from the time when Austria viewed itself principally as the first victim of National Socialism. But Mr Kurz still has one enormous problem: his steadfast support for Israel and Austria’s Jews on the one hand, and his coalition with the far-right Freedom Party on the other, are two horses pulling in opposite directions.
“Even in today’s complex reality in Europe and throughout the world,” Israeli president Reuven Rivlin said on Tuesday, “it is impossible to accept elements who hold views that support the State of Israel but also hold racist or antisemitic positions.”
International School of Holocaust Studies scholar Deborah Hartmann also criticised Mr Kurz. There are still politicians, she said, “to whom one must explain what the Holocaust was and about the catastrophe of which we speak.”
The FPÖ is not quite the same animal it was in the early 2000s under the leadership of the flamboyant provocateur Jörg Haider.
Today’s FPÖ are not Nazis but, as the president of Vienna’s Jewish community Oskar Deutsch has said, descendants of the precursors to the Nazis. Inherently nationalistic and xenophobic, the FPÖ still has links to greater German nationalist fraternities and far-right media outlets.
FPÖ chief whip Johann Gudenus’ conspiracy-riddled remarks that George Soros is responsible for mass migration in Europe show that antisemitism is a far bigger problem than the party is willing to admit.
There have been at least 23 antisemitic incidents within the FPÖ since December.
When Mr Kurz formed his new government, he spoke of his “red lines” when it came to antisemitism, but these lines remain unclear. At Yad Vashem on Sunday, he said, “It is our duty and obligation to ensure that the Shoah will never happen again.”
Never again will Nazis be allowed to kill Jews in 1945 — that much is clear.
But for so long as Mr Kurz is in government with the far-right, his well-intentioned gestures and clearheaded support for Israel and Austrian Jewry are always going to undermined by the coalition partners on which he depends.
