Austrian Leader, Allied With Far-Right Party, Vows To Fight Anti-Semitism
Sebastian Kurz Image by Getty
(JTA) — Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz vowed to prioritze “combating anti-Semitism in all its forms” in his first speech since taking office.
Kurz, 31, spoke Wednesday amid warnings by several Jewish groups that the rise of Kurz’s coalition partners — the far-right, anti-immigrant Freedom Party — could foster a rise in anti-Semitism.
“We will determinedly combat anti-Semitism in all its forms — those already existent but also imported into our country as an essential duty of our government,” AFP quoted Kurz as saying in Vienna in a reiteration of earlier statements.
The baby-faced Kurz has been ridiculed as “Baby Hitler” for his coalition partnership with the Freedom Party.
Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache, the new vice-chancellor, has also repeatedly said his party does not and will not countenance anti-Semitic rhetoric and will expel any member caught engaging in it.
The Jewish Community in Vienna has called on Kurz to resist a coalition with the Freedom Party, calling Strache’s pledges a “façade.” The Freedom Party came in second to Kurz’s centrist OVP party in the general election in October.
In November, Freedom Party lawmakers in parliament were the only ones who declined to rise in commemoration of the Kristallnacht pogroms in 1938, in which Jewish-owned shops and homes were destroyed in a coordinated campaign of persecution in Germany and Austria.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
-
Fast Forward Chicago mayor donned keffiyeh for Arab Heritage Month event, sparking outcry from Jewish groups
-
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
-
Fast Forward Latvia again closes case against ‘Butcher of Riga,’ tied to mass murder of Jews
-
Fast Forward Protesters clash in Crown Heights as Ben-Gvir visits Chabad headquarters
Most Popular
- 1
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 2
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 3
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 4
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture In a Haredi Jerusalem neighborhood, doctors’ visits are free, but the wait may cost you
-
Fast Forward Chicago mayor donned keffiyeh for Arab Heritage Month event, sparking outcry from Jewish groups
-
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
-
Fast Forward Latvia again closes case against ‘Butcher of Riga,’ tied to mass murder of Jews
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.