After condemning Nazism, Paul Gosar to share stage with members of Austrian party founded by Nazis
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Feb. 27, 2021. Photo by Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images
By Jacob Kornbluh May 3, 2023
Rep. Paul Gosar’s record on antisemitism can be hard to summarize.
In the span of a few weeks, the far-right Arizona Republican denounced Nazis, promoted antisemitic content on a pro-Nazi website and attended a pro-Israel event on Capitol Hill. This week he’ll share a stage with an authoritarian leader who has invoked antisemitic tropes and members of a European political party that was founded by former Nazi officers.
Gosar was invited to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference’s annual gathering in Hungary, which kicks off Thursday. The conference, organized by U.S. and European allies of the Republican-affiliated American Conservative Union, will also feature Viktor Orbán, the longtime populist prime minister of Hungary, who has glorified Nazi collaborators and used antisemitic dog whistles during his reelection campaigns. The gathering will also welcome Herbert Kickl, chairman of the Freedom Party of Austria, which was founded by former Nazis in 1956; Harald Vilimsky, an FPÖ member of the European Parliament and Jack Posobiec, a conspiracy theorist with white nationalist ties.
Several former Trump administration officials are also planning to attend.
When Orbán spoke at CPAC’s conference in Dallas last August, he invoked the Holocaust and assailed Jewish billionaire George Soros in an unleashed attack on progressive Democrats and the mainstream media. Gosar has also lambasted Soros, floating the false theory that the Holocaust survivor funded the neo-Nazis who organized a deadly 2017 rally in Charlottesville
Caroline Wren, a CPAC spokesperson, called Orbán “an incredible leader” and praised Gosar for accepting the invitation. “Every member of Congress should come to Hungary and learn how to emulate Orbán’s governing style,” she said.
A spokesperson for Gosar didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
Gosar has associated himself with white nationalists, attended a couple of conferences organized by Nick Fuentes, a prominent white supremacist and Holocaust denier, and appeared on the southern border with a pro-Nazi blogger. Media Matters, a left-leaning nonprofit that monitors news outlets, has charged that Gosar, on at least 30 occasions, has embraced antisemitic tropes and antisemites.
The Republican congressman faced backlash last month for promoting antisemitic content in his weekly newsletter, which he distributes each Sunday through his U.S. House email. The April 17 edition featured a link to a neo-Nazi website praising him for opposing U.S. assistance to Ukraine, but omitted an antisemitic reference from the original headline that described senior Biden administration officials as “Jewish warmongers.”
Gosar defended the email, saying that “it’s not possible to read every article on every website we link to.” Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, countered on Twitter that Gosar is trying to “brush off his platforming of antisemitic content and long-standing support for white nationalists.”
In last month’s newsletter, Gosar said he “will never support Nazis,” adding that “it’s difficult to believe” he has to denounce support for Nazis in 2023. And last week, Gosar spoke at a Jewish event celebrating Israel’s 75th anniversary and honoring former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir.
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