Austrian pro-Palestine activists protest against Israeli official's visit as vote looms

Knesset speaker Amir Ohana salutes Austria for 'standing by Israel' in Vienna anti-Semitism speech

Protesters at a Vienna theatre voice their opposition to the visit of Israel's parliament speaker. Photo: Gaza List

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Pro-Palestinian activists in Austria protested against a visit on Wednesday by a senior Israeli politician, as they set their sights on winning a seat in parliament.

Amir Ohana, the speaker of Israel's Knesset and an ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressed parliament in Vienna on Wednesday during a two-day anti-Semitism conference focusing on the fallout from the Middle East conflict. He saluted Austria for “standing by Israel”.

Police blocked roads in Vienna's city centre as campaigners rallied against “our government's support for Israel”. They included supporters of a “Gaza List” fielding 24 candidates in Austria's general election on September 29.

Appearing on the election ballot means “we can publicly put up our signs and nobody can tell us to take them away”, the Gaza List's top candidate Irina Vana told The National. “Before, a lot of demonstrations were forbidden.”

Activists complain that criticism of Israel has been silenced in the name of tackling anti-Semitism. Defending Israel at the conference, Austrian parliament speaker Wolfgang Sobotka said crimes by Hamas are “no longer spoken about” and reporting of the war in Gaza “does not correspond to what it is”.

Mr Ohana used his speech to urge Austria to “confront foreign propaganda press” and “unmask anti-Zionists disguising their hatred as a political protest”. He said Israel “will wage war unwaveringly” until it recovers hostages and contains threats from Gaza and Lebanon.

Neutrality argument

Further pro-Palestinian grievances in Austria include its position at the UN, where it was one of only 10 countries to oppose a Gaza ceasefire resolution last December. It insisted on naming Hamas as responsible for taking hostages.

Activists have also accused Austria of breaching its traditional neutrality by raising the Israeli flag from the chancellery and joining a Nato programme called Sky Shield that plans to buy Arrow 3 missiles from Israel and the US. Like Germany, Austria's Israel-friendly stance is partly shaped by its Nazi history.

The base of voters being canvassed by the Gaza List includes native Austrians who “see the importance of neutrality”, said Ms Vana, a left-wing sociologist. In campaign literature it has adopted the post-1945 credo of “Never Again” that is also the title of the anti-Semitism meeting.

Austria's Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg has, however, called openly for an end to the fighting in recent months and said Israel's right to self-defence was not a “blank cheque”. In talks with the visiting Israeli speaker, he said there was an “urgent need for a ceasefire”.

Pro-Palestinian campaigners say they have been harassed by Austrian authorities in the name of curbing anti-Semitism. AFP

Parts of Austria where many people have a Turkish and Bosnian background were also key to collecting ballot signatures for the Gaza List, Ms Vana said. Number two candidate Nura Hashem is a Palestinian woman who has organised street protests.

Five pro-Gaza independents caused an upset by winning seats in Britain's House of Commons at a July general election, at which the Labour Party's victory was dented by a historic loss of support from historically loyal Muslim voters.

'Pay the political price'

Austria's Gaza List does not expect such a breakthrough but believes it could win enough votes in Vienna to gain a single seat and send a message to major parties. “With us being on the ballot list, they will have to pay the political price for being complicit with genocide,” Ms Vana said.

“This is what we give as a possibility to the people, because it is very hard on the streets to find your voice and a lot of people have feared to join the pro-Palestinian movement. But if you just make a sign on the ballot that’s much easier.”

A Palestine Congress is planned for early October, in the week after an election in which the far-right Freedom Party leads polls. In April, police pulled the plug on a similar Palestine Congress in Berlin after a banned speaker took the floor.

Demonstrations in Austria have also been banned over the use of the controversial slogan “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, Ms Vana said. Legal opinions differ on whether the phrase implies a destruction of Israel.

Israel's Mr Ohana said at the opening of the Vienna meeting that Hamas and Iran were “increasingly gaining admirers and inspiring violence”. He mentioned recent terror scares involving an Austrian gunman at Israel's consulate in Munich and a teenager who allegedly plotted to attack a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna.

Mr Sobotka, a former Austrian interior minister, said the suffering of Gazans was “certainly bad” but that it originated from Hamas violence since its attack on Israel last October 7. He said people “only ever see destroyed parts of Gaza” in public discussion of the war.

“The war crimes committed every day by Hamas are no longer spoken about, not only on October 7 but those it commits every day by using its own people as shields, sets up arms depots and rocket launch sites at schools, mosques and hospitals,” he said.