These footage is a disgrace: recordings of the left-wing demonstration in Vienna on Thursday show that the anti-FPÖ protest was supported by anti-Israel groups. During the speech by Jewish students, anti-Semitic slogans were even shouted.The return of the Thursday demonstration in Vienna, at which left-wing activists protested vociferously on the Ring against the FPÖ’s election victory and against the Freedom Party’s possible participation in government, was massively overshadowed by the participation of anti-Israeli groups.Particularly distasteful: during the speech by the chairman of the Jewish Student Union, Elon Ishay, demonstrators shouted anti-Semitic slogans such as ‘Fascists go home!’ (translated: ‘Go home, fascists’) or ‘You’re committing genocide.’ (The accusation of genocide against Israel or Jewish people in general is often used in a way that relativises or trivialises historical Jewish experiences such as the Holocaust; this accusation deliberately overlooks complex geopolitical realities and is a deliberate distortion that serves to cast Israel and Jewish people in an extremely negative role.
Blaming Jews worldwide for the actions of the Israeli government is a form of anti-Semitism. By labelling a Jewish student representative – regardless of their position on Israel – a ‘fascist’, the individual is being associated with political conflict because of their Jewish identity, and the term ‘fascist’ is strongly associated with National Socialism, a regime that was responsible for the Holocaust. Using this insult in a Jewish context contributes to the trivialisation of fascism and the historical crimes against Jews.Exxpress editor Eva Schütz sharply criticised these alarming images on the PULS 24 programme ‘Wild Umstritten’: ‘On the one hand, the FPÖ as a very right-wing party is accused of anti-Semitism and on the other hand – and I find this almost grotesque – I have Palestine flags at a demonstration against the right. That’s the paradox of the left.’ Of course, the demonstration was not without incident: Pyrotechnics were once again set off in the crowds.
Incidentally, the fact that there were anti-Semitic incidents at the protest was only publicised thanks to videos on the short messaging service X. The incidents were not mentioned at all in the reporting of most of the media, especially by the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF).
Beschämend: Linke marschieren mit Antisemiten gegen die FPÖ | Exxpress