New Strategy in the Fight Against Antisemitism
In response to the sharp increase in antisemitic incidents since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, in Israel, the governing coalition of ÖVP, SPÖ, and NEOS presented their "National Strategy Against Antisemitism 2.0" on Monday. Among other things, participants in integration courses will in the future be required to sign a "Declaration Against Antisemitism." Meanwhile, there was an antisemitic incident in Mödling on Sunday during the commemoration of the November pogroms.
Strategy Against Antisemitism with 49 Measures
The new strategy against antisemitism is set to apply for the period 2025-2030 and builds on the first strategy introduced in 2021. It includes a total of 49 measures. A focus is also placed on combating antisemitism online. For example, AI-supported systems for detecting hate speech on the internet are to be promoted. Additionally, the creation of an Austrian Holocaust museum is to be considered.
The first strategy against antisemitism in 2021 was a "milestone," said the responsible State Secretary Alexander Pröll (ÖVP) on Monday during the presentation. With the new catalog of measures, they are responding to a "new dimension of antisemitism."
Educational Sector Not Excluded
Several measures concern the educational sector. Education Minister Christoph Wiederkehr (NEOS) already announced a new "Guidance on Dealing with Antisemitic Incidents in Schools" for tomorrow, Tuesday. Visits to memorial sites are also to be increasingly promoted.
"We will do everything to ensure that Austria is a country where Jewish life is safe," declared Vice Chancellor Andreas Babler (SPÖ). The forms of antisemitism differ in their ideological design. "But their origin is always the same: hate."
The President of the Israelite Religious Society (IRG), Oskar Deutsch, referred to the current commemoration of the November pogroms of 1938. Even then, it began "with words, with insults, with lies, with rumors about Jews, with exclusion and boycotts." He also pointed to recently presented figures, according to which 726 antisemitic incidents were reported in Austria in the first half of the year. The terrorist attack of October 7, 2023, had ignited the "engine of an (antisemitic; note) propaganda machine," said Deutsch. He also again criticized the Dinghofer Symposium planned for Tuesday in Parliament and called on its President Walter Rosenkranz (FPÖ) to cancel the event.
Incident in Lower Austria
Meanwhile, a relevant incident occurred on Sunday evening at a memorial service in remembrance of the Night of Broken Glass at the monument of the former synagogue in Mödling. During a speech, a speech by Adolf Hitler was clearly audible for more than a minute from an apartment in an adjacent multi-party house. A report was filed. The State Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism (LSE) is investigating, said police spokesman Johann Baumschlager in response to an APA inquiry. Interrogations were conducted on Monday. "The investigations are in full swing" and are "on a good path," emphasized Baumschlager. There are "first concrete leads to the perpetrator," but further results were not expected on Monday.
(APA/Red)
This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.