Austria's Kurz Says Will Not Tolerate Anti-Semitism

Austrian election winner Sebastian Kurz says he will demand a clear stance against anti-Semitism from potential coalition partners in the government the conservative politician is set to form, an Israeli paper reported Tuesday

Jerusalem, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Oct, 2017 ) :Austrian election winner Sebastian Kurz says he will demand a clear stance against anti-Semitism from potential coalition partners in the government the conservative politician is set to form, an Israeli paper reported Tuesday.

The 31-year-old made the comments in an interview with Israel Hayom newspaper as Austria's far-right looked set for a possible return to power in a coalition with Kurz. "The battle against anti-Semitism and our policy of zero tolerance against all anti-Semitic tendencies is very important to me," Kurz told the right-wing newspaper that firmly backs Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"It is a clear pre-condition for the formation of any coalition under my leadership." Kurz added that "there should not be any doubt about this". He said his People's Party (OeVP) "has tried in the past to fight against anti-Semitism, including among its own members, and I want it to continue to do so".

Asked about the possible transfer of the Austrian embassy from Tel Aviv to the disputed city of Jerusalem, favoured by the leader of the far-right FPOe Heinz-Christian Strache, Kurz said "it is not the time to talk about such a sensitive question".

Netanyahu congratulated Kurz in a telephone call on Monday night while calling for the fight against anti-Semitism to continue. Israel suspended its relations with Austria in 2000 to protest the presence of the FPOe, then led by controversial figure Joerg Haider, in the coalition government at the time, accusing it of anti-Semitism.

Relations were normalised in 2003 under prime minister Ariel Sharon. Kurz's party was projected to have won Sunday's election with 31.7 percent of the vote ahead of the Social Democrats (SPOe) of incumbent Chancellor Christian Kern on 26.9 percent.

Snapping at their heels on 26.0 percent was the anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPOe), its highest since 1999 and double that of its ally Alternative for Germany (AfD) in last month's German polls.

Strache visited Israel in April 2016 and met members of Netanyahu's Likud party. He also visited Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial during the trip. Israel's foreign ministry stressed at the time that it was a "strictly private visit" that included no official meetings.

An Israeli official speaking on condition of anonymity said Tuesday it was "premature to take any position while the Austrian coalition is not yet formed".