Former Austrian president’s UN envoy nomination sparks controversy over Israel remarks - analysis
Fischer’s nomination as special envoy was announced amid controversy over his accusations that Israel’s Gaza campaign fuels antisemitism and exploits the Holocaust.
VIENNA – Officially launching a diplomatic campaign to get Austria elected as a temporary member of the UN Security Council for the next term of 2027-2028, its Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger said she nominated four political figures as special envoys to promote Vienna’s candidacy.
The four are former Austrian president Heinz Fischer of the Social Democratic Party; Johannes Hahn of the conservative People’s Party, who was also the ex-commissioner for the EU Commission’s Budget, Anti-Fraud, and Public Administration; former vice president of the European Parliament Ulrike Lunacek of the Greens party; and ex-defense minister Herbert Scheibner, a former member of the far-right Freedom Party.
This is a real national-unity team. Each of its members should leverage their international connections to ensure that Austria will be elected for the fourth time as a temporary member of the UN Security Council. The last time Austria was a member body was during the 2009-2010 term.
The formal announcement regarding Fischer’s nomination as one of the special envoys arrived as the 86-year-old found himself in the middle of a public controversy.
Fischer had accused Israel of strengthening antisemitism due to its military campaign in Gaza and of manipulating the Holocaust to justify the killing of civilians.
Fischer avoided criticizing Hamas for using the population of Gaza
“I am concerned about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his so-called war cabinet, which consists of right-wing extremists from his government, and how they will lead their Zionist war against the Gaza Strip,” he told the Austria Press Agency.“It is dreadful,” Fischer continued, “It is even worse since we [Austrians] are so positively-minded regarding the fight against antisemitism and we respect the suffering of the Jewish people who also had to endure pain in the 20th century, namely the Holocaust.
“But all that does not justify that one treats people – women and children – in the way that it is being done in Gaza, nor that one ignores not only human rights but also international law,” he added.
Fischer called on the government of Austria to raise its voice against Israeli actions that “are suspected of being war crimes” as it does in other similar cases.
“The main reason as to why the government should do this, besides the defense of human rights, is because of what Netanyahu and the others are currently doing,” Fischer said.
“Antisemitism does not weaken this way – it grows and festers,” he added.
FISCHER, WHO avoided criticizing Hamas for using the population of Gaza as a human shield, is known for his one-sided critical positions regarding Israel, even though he presents himself as “a staunch friend of Israel.”
He takes every opportunity he can to mention that he had worked as a youngster on a kibbutz and married the daughter of a Jewish socialist who fled Austria after the Nazis annexed the country.
However, by accusing the Jewish state of being responsible for the explosion of antisemitism in Austria, as in other places in the world, Fischer used an antisemitic line of thought according to which the Jews themselves are those responsible for the existence of antisemitism.
Prominent leaders within Austria’s Jewish community have slammed Fischer for his remarks.The secretary-general of the Israelite Cultural Community, Benjamin Nagele, said Fischer revealed himself to be the friend of “only dead Jews.”
“When it has to do with the ones who are still alive,” Nagele said, “he recommends that Jews allow themselves to be kidnapped, raped, and murdered without trying to defend themselves.”
On a recent show produced by the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation, a Jewish former member of the People’s Party, Martin Engelberg, demanded that Fischer excuse himself, given his antisemitic rhetoric.
Fischer refused, saying that expressing concern over what the images coming out of Gaza depict, whereby people then take to the streets shouting, “Down with Netanyahu,” was not antisemitic.
Fischer’s anti-Israeli positions will assure Austria the votes of Arab and Muslim countries in the UN.He worked in the past with an Austrian who had championed the “Palestinian cause” – the Jewish chancellor Bruno Kreisky, who expressed minimal sympathy for Israel.
Other Austrian politicians, such as former UN secretary-general Kurt Waldheim and far-right and known antisemite leader Jorg Haider, were also highly supportive of the Palestinians and vehemently anti-Israeli.
It seems like the Austrian foreign minister will perpetuate this old Austrian tradition and quickly remove herself from the pro-Israeli policies of the last conservative governments in Vienna.
Choosing to be on the wrong side of history should not pave the way for Austria’s admittance into the UN Security Council.
