The government presented the first implementation report of the National Strategy Against Antisemitism on Monday. A major problem had become even bigger within a year, said Constitutional Minister Karoline Edtstadler (ÖVP). The demonstrations by opponents of the Corona measures are also responsible for this. The President of the Vienna Jewish Community (IKG), Oskar Deutsch, praised the initiative but emphasized that there was still a lot to be done.
According to the most recent report by the antisemitism reporting office, 562 incidents were registered from January to June, compared to 257 in the same period in 2020. A balance sheet for the entire past year should be available in the coming weeks. The IKG President also emphasized that Corona demos, but also the Middle East conflict, are the main reasons for increasing antisemitism.
Despite the worrying results, the goals and measures of the government strategy against antisemitism are “pioneering” throughout Europe, emphasized Deutsch. “At the same time, we have to make it clear that everything is just the beginning, the beginning of a long rocky road,” he emphasized. At the same time, he called on people to show more civil courage in the fight against antisemitism.
Edtstadler also appealed to the population to report antisemitic incidents. The massive increase is worrying, and the minister also cited the Corona demos as an important reason for this. But: “We also see politicians who do not distance themselves from the trivialization of the Shoah and cowardly talk themselves out of freedom of expression,” she apparently spoke to FPÖ chairman Herbert Kickl, without naming him.
“Not a sprint, but a marathon” is also the continuation of the strategy for Edtstadler, which the report also encourages. This year, for example, they want to work more closely with the municipalities, but there should also be international networking. To this end, the government wants to invite representatives of the EU states to Vienna to intensify the discourse at international level and to discuss possible solutions.
