Austria: Turkish man beats Jews in front of kosher shop in Vienna

Via Arutz Sheva 7:

Several Jews were physically assaulted in Vienna on Thursday outside of a kosher restaurant. The incident occurred in Vienna’s Leopoldstadt district Thursday morning, on Tabor Street.

According to Austrian media outlets, a 24-year-old Austrian man of Turkish origin attacked three Jewish men in front of a kosher restaurant and near a synagogue.

Witnesses say the assailant jumped one of the victims, knocking him to the ground. The suspect then began to beat the victims.

“I had just walked out of the synagogue,” one victim, Daniel, told Heute, “and I had my kippah and Tefillin [phylacteries] on, so I was easily recognizable as a Jew. He came at me from behind while I was on my phone and didn’t see him. He jumped me from behind.”

Daniel says he suffered injuries to his hip, but was thankful the attacker was not armed. “I’m glad he didn’t have a knife with him.”

read more

Austria: State May Require Jews to Register to Buy Kosher Meat

Via Haaretz:

A regional politician in Austria defended a plan to limit access to kosher meat, conditioning its sale on permits that would be individually issued to observant Jews.

The Wiener Zeitung daily reported Tuesday about the draft decree in the state of Lower Austria, one of nine states that make up the federal Republic of Austria. Gottfried Waldhäusl, the cabinet minister in the state government of Lower Austria who is in charge of animal welfare and several other portfolios, defended the plan as necessary “from an animal welfare point of view.”

Oskar Deutsch, the president of the Jewish Community in Vienna, warned that, in practice, the plan would require compiling a list of Jews, which he called “like a negative Aryan clause,” referencing racist laws passed by Nazi Germany and implemented in Austria after its merger with Germany in 1938. 

read more

Austria: Holocaust memorial in Vienna defaced

Via reader:

There is a small memorial exhibit at the subway station Herminengasse in Vienna, for the Jews rounded up and sent to death and concentration camps during the Holocaust. Although this exhibit only opened in October 2017, it already has been defaced twice, this time with "gaza" spray-painted in blue. Workers tried to wash it off but it is still quite visible.

Photos of the recent defacement (the squiggly black lines are part of the original exhibit):

Austria: Holocaust denier Gerd Honsik has died

Via The Times of Israel:

Gerd Honsik, an Austrian author who was considered a leading ideologue in Europe’s neo-Nazi movement, has died at 76.

The Austria Press Agency reported Honsik died Saturday at his home in Hungary. APA cited “multiple independent sources” in its report Monday. (...)

He published a book titled “Hitler Innocent?” in which he attempted to justify some of the Third Reich’s crimes during World War II. He evaded most of his prison sentences over the years by fleeing Austria and living in other European countries, including Spain. He was arrested in 2007 in Malaga and extradited to Austria for a 1992 conviction, after Madrid had refused to hand him in for 15 years because Holocaust denial wasn’t illegal in that country.

During trial, Honsik claimed he merely “rejected the textbook wisdom that demonizes National Socialism” and said he denies the existence of the gas chambers only when he “didn’t verify” the facts himself. Honsik, who sometimes used the pseudonym Endsik — alluding to the Nazi quest for final victory or “Endsieg”— was last released in 2011 having served a prison term in Spain for claiming that the Holocaust was a fabrication.

read more

Austria Investigates Fraternity's Nazi Songbook

Via Haaretz:

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Wednesday prosecutors are investigating a student fraternity whose songbook contains Nazi lyrics.

Kurz wrote on Twitter that there should be "zero tolerance for anti-Semitism, racism or praising Nazi tyranny."

His comments come after a report revealed a Freedom Party candidate for state office, Udo Landbauer, was a member of the fraternity with the songbook. Many have raised concerns about Kurz's decision to form a new coalition government with the nationalist, anti-migrant Freedom Party.

The book contains the line "step on the gas, you old Germans, we will reach seven million" — an apparent reference to the 6 million Jews the Nazis killed in the Holocaust. 

read more

Austria: New FM denies having compared Zionism with Nazism

Via The Times of Israel:

Zionism cannot be equated with Nazism, Austria’s new foreign minister said, rejecting accusations that she had made such a comparison in the past.

In an in-depth interview with The Times of Israel, Karin Kneissl defended the far-right Freedom Party, saying neither its leader Heinz-Christian Strache nor its other members have anti-Semitic inclinations. (...)  

When she was appointed in December, the 52-year-old Vienna native made headlines in Israel for having described early Zionism in one of her books as a “blood-and-soil ideology based on German nationalism.”

The quote, from her 2014 book “My Middle East,” led some observers to believe that she linked Zionism with Nazism.

“Some journalists only pointed out one line of the book without explaining the content,” she told The Times of Israel. “What’s important today is that myself and the new Austrian government are and remain committed to Israel as a Jewish state and to a two-state-solution, where Israel and Palestine live side by side, in peace and prosperity.”

read more

Austria: Vienna police charge 3 men for waving Israeli flag at rally

Via Jerusalem Post:

The Vienna police are pursuing criminal charges against three pro-Israel activists for waving an Israeli flag in protest of antisemitic slogans at a demonstration against Jerusalem having been recognized by the US as the capital of the Jewish state.

The police are seeking a €100 fine or two days in jail for the display of Israel-support at the December 8 anti-Israel rally near the US Embassy in Austria’s capital.

The criminal notice, dated January 3, states that the activists “showed an Israeli flag at a rally in an extremely provocative way and manner that was visible for participants at the rally and thereby produced considerable offense and provocation among the Palestinian protesters.”

The German-language edition of the news site Vice first reported on Tuesday on the penalties against the three men and conducted an interview with one of the pro-Israel protesters.

“My mother is Israeli, her family [members] are refugees from Iraq and Libya,” the pro-Israel protester said. “An Arab-speaking friend from Israel was able to translate some of the slogans yelled [at the rally], for example, the Arab battle cry to massacre Jews: ‘Jews, remember Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning,’ and... ‘Death to Israel.’”

The Arabic cry references an ancient Muslim attack on Jews in the town of Khaybar in what is now Saudi Arabia, killing many and looting their homes. The provocative chant is frequently used when attacking Jews and Israelis, and was chanted on the Mavi Marmara Gaza flotilla ship in May 2010.

The activist, who was given the name Matthias  F. by Vice to ostensibly protect his privacy, said he heard other chants of “Intifada” and “Child-murder Israel” at the rally that was attended by hundreds of anti-Israel protesters.

He added that, “We were shocked by these slogans and did not want to leave the slogans unchallenged. Antisemitism and hate of Israel should not be tolerated.”

read more

Europe: Even in Left-Wing European circles, BDS is linked to anti-Semitism

Via Commentary Magazine (Evelyn Gordon):

BDS activists are presumably celebrating the UN Human Rights Council’s decision to warn off companies that do business with Israelis in the West Bank. I’d advise them to enjoy their temporary victory while they can. As several recent events make clear, they’re losing badly outside the UN. And they’re losing for one simple reason: People worldwide are gradually coming to understand that the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement isn’t “anti-occupation,” it’s anti-Semitic.

Last Friday, for instance, Austria’s national student union passed a motion denouncing BDS as anti-Semitic and saying the movement recalls the Nazis’ economic boycott of Jewish businesses. The resolution also said BDS activists shouldn’t be given funding or venues in which to promote its campaign. The motion, which was pushed in particular by a student group called GRAS (Greens and Alternative Students), passed almost unanimously, with one abstention and no votes against.

The previous week, the Green Party in the German state of Bavaria passed a resolution denouncing BDS as “anti-Semitic, hostile to Israel, reactionary and anti-enlightenment,” adding that it “reproduces the National Socialist slogan, ‘Don’t buy from Jews!’” The resolution, introduced by the party’s youth wing, also urged the national Green Party not to cooperate with BDS. Given that some prominent Green Party members have actively promoted anti-Israel boycotts, this uncompromising denunciation effectively amounts to a grassroots revolt.

And this week, the Left Party in Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, decided not to consider a motion urging Israel “to end the occupation and the Gaza blockade” and demanded the European Union end its Association Agreement with Israel due to the blockade and Israel’s West Bank security fence. Given that the Left Party (Die Linke in German) is easily the German party most hostile to Israel, this development is surprising.

The party offered no explanation when it announced the decision on its Twitter account, but Jerusalem Post reporter Benjamin Weinthal suggested it might be related to what Martina Renner, a Left Party member of parliament, said about the resolution earlier this month. The “motion sounds like it was written from Israel boycott groups,” Renner said. “From this the executive board of @dielinke clearly distances itself.” Renner’s statement left no room for doubt: Even the Left Party wants nothing to do with BDS and anti-Israel boycotts.

All these examples have something in common: The anti-BDS push is coming precisely from the groups that are normally least sympathetic to Israel–leftists and young people. In other words, BDS is losing not just among groups that could be expected to oppose it, like the U.S. Congress, but among the very demographic that ought to be its principal bastion of support.

Even though large swaths of polite society are now perfectly comfortable with anti-Semitism as long as they can tell themselves it’s just “anti-Zionism” or “fighting the occupation,” open avowals of anti-Semitism are still taboo. Once stripped of the comforting pretense that it’s not anti-Semitic, BDS will be finished. And groups like the Austrian student union and the Bavarian Green Party are now tearing that pretense to shreds.

read more

Austria's election winner Sebastian Kurz has a warm place in his heart for Israel

 Via Israel Hayom:

Sebastian Kurz

(...) Less than 24 hours after Kurz's sweeping win, as he began preparing for his new job as the youngest world leader, he granted Israel Hayom an exclusive interview, making a point of showing he has a warm place in his heart for the Jewish state. 

Kurz made it clear that denouncing anti-Semitism would be a "clear precondition" for his future coalition partners, including his most likely partner, the far-right Freedom Party of Austria. (...)

Kurz also said he supports the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, which was negotiated in his country's capital, Vienna. He stressed that "we cannot be naive" about the Islamic republic's conduct. 

Q. Congratulations on your victory and thank you for finding the time to answer our questions on such a busy day. How does it feel to become the youngest chancellor in Austria's history?

"I'm glad and overwhelmed by the good electoral results for our political movement, the new People's Party. We have achieved historic success. The voters have conferred a very large responsibility on us and I would be honored to serve the Austrian citizens as the head of the next government." 

Q. Does being so young make it easier for you to take responsibility for Austria's history during World War II?

"My visits to Yad Vashem [Israel's Holocaust memorial], as well as my many meetings with Holocaust survivors, were deeply moving for me. I have always been very clear that we – and that very much includes the new Austrian generation – shall never forget the Holocaust and the atrocities committed during World War II. Austria has to face up to its own history, and that includes the dark sides of it. Let me be very clear: A Europe without Jews is not Europe anymore. I am therefore very glad that we have a vibrant – small, but very vibrant - Jewish community in Austria. Also, Austria enjoys excellent relations with the State of Israel – this is a fact that is very important for me." 

Q. During the campaign, your close contacts with the Austrian Jewish community and Israel were used by certain sides to try to harm your chances of winning. Was that anti-Semitic?

"I cannot speak for other parties. But the election results clearly show that Austrians do not reward any kind of smear campaigns or dirty campaigning tricks. Let me also be clear that we must continue to pursue a policy of zero tolerance for any form of anti-Semitism in Austria as well as in Europe." 

Q. The campaign was shadowed by the "Silberstein scandal," in which Israeli adviser Tal Silberstein was accused of misconduct by promoting allegedly racist propaganda. Will this affair influence future contacts between Austria and Israel?

"No, it will not. It is of the utmost importance for me that Austria and Israel continue to intensify our already close bilateral relations. I am glad that during my time as foreign minister our bilateral relations have further improved and grown ever stronger. Let me just give you one figure here: Our bilateral trade grew by 32.5% during the first half of 2017 – that tells you something about the growing strength of our relationship. Also, we have put a focus and an intensified exchange between our young generations. (A new Working Holiday Program that I have signed with PM Netanyahu allows for young Israelis and Austrians for the first time to work in each other's country – and this opportunity is taken up with great enthusiasm.) If I become the next chancellor of Austria, I will strive to further intensify our close bilateral relations."

read more

Austria: Students reject 'antisemitic' boycott Israel campaign

Via Jerusalem Post:

The Austrian National Union of Students passed on Friday a motion against BDS, saying that the boycott movement targeting Israel is antisemitic, and that its demands recall the Nazis’ economic war against Jewish businesses.

It is believed to be the first time an Austrian national student union has passed such a resolution.

The Austrian Jewish students group announced on its Facebook page: “We are very happy to announce that the Austrian Students Union is the first national student union to officially pass a resolution denouncing BDS and also passing a version of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance – IHRA definition of antisemitism. The resolution states BDS to be an antisemitic campaign and calls not to give it any space or supporting funds.

“This has been a big step in the fight against antisemitism, and we are very happy that after our lobbying effort almost all factions have supported the motion.

“A special thanks to the GRAS Greens and Alternative Students and their continuing support in the fight against all antisemitism.”

read more

Austria and Germany: Iranian mosques stoke genocidal antisemitism against Israel

Via The Jerusalem Post (Benjamin Weinthal):

Iranian regime-controlled mosques in Vienna and Hamburg stoke genocidal antisemitism against Israel, while the Imam Ali mosque in the Austrian capital propagates discrimination against women, according to a government report and statements.

The Austrian Integration Fund (ÖIF) said last week, in its report probing 16 mosques that in the Iranian regime-controlled Imam Ali mosque, that “the mosque is entirely on the same line as Iran’s state doctrine. Israel is not, regardless of its boundaries, recognized.
The goal is the destruction of the Jewish state.”

In one of the prayer services observed at the Imam Ali mosque in February, the cleric publicized a conference for the support of the Palestinians under the motto: “Palestine is the home of the Palestinians.”

The imam complained during the service that the Islamic world was so occupied with its own problems that it had lost sight of the Palestinians and “negotiates with the ruthless usurper.” While Israel was not mentioned by name, the pejorative descriptions are believed to have targeted the Jewish state. 

read more

Austria: Antisemitic remarks by Freedom Party's foreign policy spokesperson

Via Jewish News:

The Jewish Community Vienna (IKG) has called on the FPÖ (Freedom Party) to expel its foreign policy spokesperson, Johannes Hübner, from the party. The request refers to likely anti-Semitic remarks made by Hübner during a right-wing convention in Thuringia in June 2016, as reported by Der Standard on Wednesday.

“If the FPÖ is serious about having bid farewell to anti-Semitism, suspending Hübner would be imperative,” IKG – President Oskar Deutsch told Der Standard. The FPÖ would “remain among the sticks in the mud” should the party not react to Hübner’s comments or even defend them.”

For Federal Chancellor Christian Kern, too, the “anti-Semitic comments” are “absolutely unacceptable.” Hübner has mentioned him as the Friedrich Torberg awardee of the Jewish Community; Kern asserted that he is “proud” of this award.

Hübner, who works as an attorney in Vienna, used a 1930s denigration of the constitutional scholar Hans Kelsen as “Hans Kohn” – a widespread Jewish family name –in front of an audience.

Meanwhile, Hübner himself has addressed the accusations during a conversation with Der Standard. While he confirms to have made the statement, he cannot comment on its “specific historic background.” By all means, he does “absolutely not see any anti-Semitic background” regarding the statement. Asked about why his allusion did cause laughter in the audience, Hübner said that he “cannot remember.”

Deutsch rejects Hübner’s justifications: “those are stereotypes like we have formerly seen in Der Stürmer.” The IKG is now considering introducing a criminal exposition of the facts. “We are currently examining this option.”

read more

Austria: Palestinian gets life sentence for inciting killings of Jews

Via The Times of Israel:

An Austrian jury has convicted a Palestinian man on terrorism-related charges for inciting fellow radicals to kill Jews in Jerusalem. 

The 27-year old man — unnamed due to Austrian privacy laws — also was found guilty on Monday of belonging to a terrorist organization due to his affiliation with Hamas, the Palestinian terror group that has ruled Gaza since seizing it in 2007. He was sentenced to life in prison. 

The six member jury delivered its verdict after prosecutors presented evidence that the man called on others through social media to kill victims in Jerusalem. They cited his statements expressing pride in being a Hamas member, and noted that he had served a nine-year prison sentence in Israel for terror acts against the Jewish state.

read more

The Local reports that the man "was arrested at an asylum-seeker centre in Lower Austria last July".

Austria: Bishop resigns from NGO Pax Christi over antisemitism at Palestinian event

Via The Jerusalem Post (Benjamin Weinthal):

Bishop Manfred Scheuer

Bishop Manfred Scheuer resigned on Monday as president of the Catholic peace organization Pax Christi in Austria because of outbreaks of antisemitism within the NGO and at a Pax Christi event with the Palestinian ambassador.  

Scheuer, Bishop of Linz -- Austria's third largest city -- said that the reason for his resignation is Pax Christi's "criticism of Israel's politics" and over the assessment of the "criticism as antisemitic," wrote the Catholic wire agency Kathpress. 

Scheuer said, "I am convinced that because of the Shoah in Germany and Austria a special responsibility and sensitivity is necessary toward the state of Israel." 

Pax Christi International supports the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) campaign targeting the Jewish state. 

In addition to anti-Israel antisemitism, Scheuer cited an additional reason for his break with Pax Christi: verbal attacks on members of the Jewish community in Linz during a late May lecture by Salah Abdel Shafi who serves as the Palestinian ambassador to Austria and the UN in Vienna. 

According to Kathpress, during the joint Pax Christi event with Abdel Shafi, insults were leveled at a writer and Anna Mitgutch, a representative of the Jewish community in Linz, as well as two members of the community. 

Mitgutch told the Linz Kirchenzeitung (Church Paper) that the language used was a "new flare up of antisemitism." (...) 

Prof. Gerald Steinberg, the head of the Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday, "This resignation therefore marks an important turning point -- for the first time, a member of the Catholic hierarchy in Europe has openly criticized the organization for this activity. By highlighting the antisemitism, Bishop Scheuer's resignation might also lead the Vatican to issue long overdue guidelines for Pax Christi and other Catholic NGOs such as Misoerer in Germany, that promote BDS." 

The bishop said he shared the concerns of the Jewish community over growing antisemitism in Europe. "Every form of antisemitism is disgraceful and should be sharply criticized, " said Scheuer.

read more

Austria: Far-right Freedom Party commits to moving embassy to Jerusalem

i24NEWS:

Heinz-Christian Strache

Heinz-Christian Strache stands a real chance of winning the upcoming national elections 

The head of Austria's Freedom Party Heinz-Christian Strache on Wednesday committed in writing to moving the Austrian embassy to Jerusalem, if the party wins in the upcoming national elections. 

Strache also affirmed, in a letter addressed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he believes Israel has the right to build in all areas of the state with Jerusalem as its capital. The letter was signed during a meeting with Member of Knesset Yehuda Glick in Vienna. 

Strache is the political heir of Jörg Haider, the former head of the Freedom Party who was infamous for his anti-Semitism and pro-Nazi opinions. When the party joined the Austrian government in 2000, Israel recalled its ambassador in a diplomatic crisis that continued until 2003. 

Former Israeli elder statesman Shimon Peres refused a visit from Strache last year, reportedly due to advice from the Israeli Foreign MinistryStrache stands a real chance of winning the upcoming elections in Austria, if not to be chancellor, then to be in a coalition. Austria's Freedom Party is widely considered the strongest far right party in all of Europe. (...) 

Having made comments in the past that Austria is not responsible for its previous crimes, namely in relation to Nazi Germany, Strache told i24NEWS last year that "different people in different periods afterwards have interpreted the situation as Austria being occupied. Others certainly wished for this unification with National Socialist Germany."

read more

Related:

Far-right Austrian party chief visits Israel, tours Yad Vashem

Austria: Jewish leaders mull lifting ban of far-right party

Austria: Half of Muslim youth hold antisemitic views

Via Jerusalem Post:

A study published by the University of Teacher Education in Vienna released on Saturday showed that almost 50% of young Austrian Muslims maintain an antisemitic attitude. The systematic delegitimization of Israel in Muslim-majority countries helps explain “imported antisemitism” into Europe, wrote the Austrian daily Der Standard in their report on the poll.

The poll asked Austrian Muslim students if they felt that “Jews have too much influence in Austria,” and 48% agreed with the statement.

The students aged between 16 through 19 have migrant backgrounds from a diverse set of Muslim-majority countries and some non-Muslim nations, including Bosnia, Turkey, Albania and Bulgaria. The students study at apprentice schools while working in the restaurant and hotel industry.

The authors of the study, Georg Lauss and Stefan Schmid-Heher, told Der Standard, in which the study was first reported, that “educational and prevention efforts against antisemitism need to be strengthened.”

read more

Austria: Rapid Vienna investigates fans’ anti-Semitic chants

Via Times of Israel:

Austrian soccer giant Rapid Vienna has launched an internal probe into club supporters chanting anti-Semitic slogans during a reserve team game this week.

A small group among the several hundred spectators were filmed shouting “Jewish pigs” after Rapid II lost 2-1 against arch rival Austria Vienna in Tuesday evening’s clash.

A video of the incident was posted on social media networks including Facebook.

Rapid described the behavior as “unforgivable,” saying it “trampled on the club’s values and principles.”

“Anyone who is found to have joined in these insults will be immediately banned from SK Rapid events,” the club said in a statement sent to AFP.

read more

Austria: 'Leaked nudes of Anne Frank' joke by student organisation

Via CFCA:

“Leaked nude pictures of Anne Frank” mockery

Activists of the Austrian students’ organization Aktions Gemeinschaft (AG), which is affiliated with the Faculty of Law at the University of Vienna (Wien) and is closely and politically associated with the Austrian People's Party, spent their time spreading jokes about Jews and mocking the disabled in a closed Facebook group.  

In the latest edition of the Austrian news weekly "Falter", excerpts from chat conversations were published. The members of the Facebook group include staff members of the faculty, as well as candidates standing for the current elections of the Austrian Students’ Union (ÖH) Students. 

The representatives regularly chatted with each other in both a Whatsapp group and the aforementioned closed Facebook group which is called "Fakultätsvertretung Jus Männerkollektiv". In their chats, for example, shortly after the caption “leaked nude pictures of Anne Frank”, an illustration appears of a single rose emerging from a pile of ashes. 

Elsewhere in the chats, there is an illustration of a girl who is a member of the Hitler youth (Hitlerjugend) movement. She is holding a basket filled with swastika flags and rabbits in her hands along with the caption: “Wishing a happy Easter to all the men as well as all the chicks in this respectable group.” In addition, one may find in the comments a picture of a child with Down's Syndrome sitting in a tub with a pitchfork drawn on his arm as well as the inscription “Poseidown” and various illustrations of Hitler.

First and foremost, on visiting the group, one is struck by the many revealing photos of female students or of raves in which the assembled party appears to be largely drunk or intoxicated. 

Within the AG itself, those revelations were met with indignation: “It is absolutely outrageous that members of this organization have created a Facebook group in which posts containing such inhuman content are shared” said organization's spokesman Valentin Petritsch. 

read more

Austria: Jewish officials hail ecision to adopt antisemitism definition

Via Jerusalem Post:

 Officials and Jewish representatives have welcomed a move made this week by Austria to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, a week after an NGO reported that 2016 saw record levels of antisemitism in the country.

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz tweeted on Tuesday that the Austrian Council of Ministers had decided to take on the definition, adding that the move sent an important signal and was crucial “in order to identify and combat antisemitism more easily with a universally valid definition.”

read more

Austria: Anti-Semitic incidents reach new record in 2016

Via Israel Hayom:

A record number of anti-Semitic incidents, ranging from verbal and online threats to physical assaults, was recorded in Austria last year, a non-governmental organization said in a report published on Thursday.

The number of cases rose to 477 in 2016 from 465 in 2015, when it jumped by about 200 from 2014, the Forum Against Anti-Semitism said.

The report follows a finding by Austria's BVT domestic intelligence service indicating that in 2016 incidents of xenophobia, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism were on the rise in Austria. The small country has been swept up in Europe's migration crisis and the refugee influx has become a hot-button issue.

"It is of course alarming. We now have two consecutive years at a record level," said Oskar Deutsch, president of the Jewish Community of Vienna (IKG).

Deutsch said Austria's Jewish community numbers 13,000 to 15,000 people in an overall population of 8.8 million.

Growing concerns about jobs and security, often in connection with immigration, have fueled growing support for the far-right Freedom party, which was founded by former Nazis. It is now running first in opinion polls.

The Freedom party is strongly critical of Islam and denounces anti-Semitism, but its efforts to court Jewish voters have shown few signs of success. The IKG, the main body representing Austrian Jews, says the party is still xenophobic.

read more