Austrian Party With Nazi Past Embraces Israel, Says October 7 Was ‘Not Resistance’

A declaration of support for Israel offered on Thursday at the European Parliament by Austria’s hard-right Freedom Party puts in sharp relief an emerging shift in the Continent’s politics.The remarks in support of Israel came from the party’s chairman, Herbert Kickl. He declared that “October 7 was the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. It was a crime against humanity, not resistance.” He also apologized for Austria’s role in the Holocaust, pledged support for the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, supported moving Austria’s embassy to Jerusalem, and expressed support for the “Jewish people’s historic connection to Judea and Samaria.”The Freedom Party was founded in 1956. Its first leader, Anton Reinthaller, was a former Nazi minister of agriculture and a member of the SS. Its second, Friedrich Peter, had also been a member of the SS. The party finished first in Austria’s September 2024 parliamentary election with 29 percent of the vote — the first time since World War II that a hard-right party was tasked with forming a coalition. Ultimately, it did not enter the government.Jerusalem has no formal relations with the Freedom Party on account of its Nazi taint and the suspicion with which the party is held by Austria’s Jewish community, 65,000 of whose members were murdered in the Holocaust. When the rightists first joined Austria’s government in 2000, Israel recalled its ambassador in protest. When the Freedom Party again joined the government in 2017, Israel maintained a boycott of ministers but agreed to cooperate at the civil-service level.Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, responded to Mr. Kickl on Thursday in a guarded statement that “against the backdrop of the complex history, Israel views these statements as an important and positive development, but building trust also requires translating commitments into actions.” He added that the “remarks make it possible to open a substantive, open and sincere dialogue aimed at deepening our understanding of his positions and commitments.”A more enthusiastic response came from Israel’s minister for diaspora, Amichai Chikli, who declared that “More than a turning point, this was a crossing of the Rubicon, following a long process of building trust, deepening cooperation, and creating a genuine political bridge between Israel and Austria’s Freedom Party.” Mr. Chikli called it “one of the most significant speeches ever delivered by an Austrian politician regarding Israel and the Jewish people” — presumably excluding addresses given by Adolf Hitler.The Freedom Party is closely linked to the Alternative for Germany party, which earlier this month notched a blowout victory in the state of Saxony-Anhalt and appears poised for another strong showing in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The gathering strength of the AfD — which, like the Freedom Party, has been denounced for its links with Nazism — has put Chancellor Friedrich Merz on the ropes. A senior AfD leader, Beatrix von Storch, told the Sun last year that her party supports Israel and is a natural home for Jewish voters.While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has cultivated relations with European rightists like France’s National Rally, Spain’s Vox, and parties in the Netherlands and Hungary, some Israelis have been more reluctant to draw close to their counterparts in Austria and Germany, the historic heart of the Third Reich. That perspective was given voice earlier this month when Jerusalem’s envoy to Berlin, Ron Prosor, told Israeli Army Radio with respect to the AfD that “When you see what they say and do, it’s a wake-up call for anyone who holds Jewish life in Germany dear. This is not a symbolic victory; this is a party aiming to rule Germany.”Mr. Chiki is more bullish on the right, reckoning that “the real threat to European Jewry is radical Islam, not the political right.”

Austrian Party With Nazi Past Embraces Israel, Says October 7 Was ‘Not Resistance’

Austrian Party With Nazi Past Embraces Israel, Says October 7 Was ‘Not Resistance’

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