At a Jewish store

Sobotka paints over anti-Semitic slogans in Vienna

National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka declared that such slogans "have no place in Austria".

(Bild: APA/TOBIAS STEINMAURER)

National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka (ÖVP) and IKG President Oskar Deutsch painted over anti-Semitic slogans on the façade of a Jewish store on Monday in the presence of Israeli Ambassador David Roet. The slogans "Death to Zionism" and "Victory to Palestine" had been painted there on the night of May 1st. 

Sobotka compared the graffiti with the year 1938, when the same pictures were painted on the streets. "This must have no place in Austria." This requires a clear stance and not just fine words on Sunday. Parliament has been warning of growing anti-Semitism for six years, Sobotka emphasized. At that time, however, it was said that he was painting the devil on the wall or instrumentalizing this. We know that 30 percent of the population is latently anti-Semitic, while eight to nine percent are manifestly so.

This must have no place in Austria.

Nationalratspräsident Wolfgang Sobotka (ÖVP)

The graffiti on the Jewish store

(Bild: APA/TOBIAS STEINMAURER)

According to the President of the National Council, Parliament offers workshops on the topic as part of the Democracy Workshop. However, some schools would not dare to offer these courses due to the number of migrants in their classes and concerns about confrontation. "Teachers also need to take a clear stance here." In general, Sobotka also saw anti-Semitism as being imported through migration. In addition, there is also left-wing or "feuilleton anti-Semitism", as the anti-Semitism researcher Monika Schwarz-Friesel recently put it at a commemorative event.

Criticism of German-Israeli philosopher
Sobotka also criticized the appearance of the German-Israeli philosopher Omri Boehm at Judenplatz and his "very crude analysis of apartheid policy". He viewed the developments of the past few days with concern: "If we give space to the left-wing narrative, we will have what Hamas is doing in Europe tomorrow."

The President of the Jewish Community (IKG) Deutsch also considered Boehm, who will give this year's "Speech to Europe" on Tuesday as part of the Vienna Festival on Judenplatz, to be "the wrong speaker in the wrong place". He did not just make this point about the philosopher himself, but about the festival's invitation policy in general: He wondered why they were making it difficult for Jews in Vienna and, especially at a time like this, involving people such as the Greek former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis. Deutsch also saw this as an insult and provocation to his community members.

Reminiscent of slogans from the 1930s
Deutsch compared the anti-Semitic slogans on the store of a Jewish owner to the slogan "Don't buy from Jews" in the 1930s. This was the beginning of a development that ultimately led to six million Jews being murdered. That is why the painting over by official representatives of the state was also an "important symbolic act".

The President of the Jewish Community also picked up a paintbrush.

(Bild: APA/TOBIAS STEINMAURER)

"Anti-Semitism cannot simply be wiped away"
"While the anti-Semitic graffiti will be covered up with paint, the stain of anti-Semitism cannot simply be wiped away," Roet emphasized. It is unacceptable for Jews to be accused of flimsy accusations against Israel and for calls for genocide to be painted on walls, universities or streets in Vienna.