February 15, 2000
9 Adar, 5760
Jerusalem

World Zionist Organization:

Say No to Haider

The inclusion of an extreme-right party in the new coalition government in Austria is anathema to anyone who believes in tolerance. We cannot remain silent. The World Zionist Organization is resolved to take the lead in the campaign against the government in Vienna and calls on people throughout the world who believe in tolerance and on all Jewish organizations to join with us, in voice and action. We are committed to ensuring that Nazism and its credo of racial supremacy can never again rear its ugly head.

If people had not remained silent sixty years ago when another Austrian fascist was democratically elected, the Holocaust would not have happened. If once we swore "Never Again," we must today shout out loud and clear that we are witnessing "Austria Again." We must raise our voices and follow them with actions. We will not be silent.

The Jewish world must take a firm stance and a leading role in reminding the world of Austria's racist past. We must not let the new government in Austria forget for a moment that its make up is abhorrent.

We will not negotiate with the Austrian government on compensation for people interred in slave labor camps during the Holocaust or on the restitution of Jewish property confiscated during that period. After years of stonewalling on this issue, the new Austrian government has suddenly agreed to sit down with representatives of the Jewish world. While we recognize the unquestioned right of victims of Nazi persecution and atrocities to be justly compensated, we will have no dealings with the Austrian government as long as Joerg Haider’s Freedom Party is a member.

We are calling on Israelis and Jews worldwide, as well as people of conscience everywhere, not to vacation in Austria and to cut all contacts with the new government in Vienna.

We have urged Jewish organizations worldwide to work together and to lobby their respective governments against the new Austrian government. We call on all organizations to join in our campaign. We must ensure that governments and people worldwide express their complete and unanimous condemnation of the Austrian government's willingness to include in its ranks a party whose platform is based on racial hatred and xenophobia.

We support and encourage those forces in Austria which have unequivocally condemned the beliefs of the Freedom Party, criticized the make-up of the new government, and demonstrated against its establishment. And yet we must remember that nearly one third of the Austrian electorate voted for Haider and his party, while nearly another third supported the People's Party, which has formed a coalition with the extreme right and brought into power a party whose platform is based on racial hatred and xenophobia.

Austria has lost its conscience; the WZO stands up and declares that it will not remain silent.

For further information contact:

Michael Jankelowitz
Liaison to Foreign Press and Media, JAFI
Tel: 972-2-6202780
Fax: 972-2-6202708
Mobile: 972-51-601706

Deborah Lipson
Advisor to the Treasurer on International Affairs
Tel: 972-2-6202828
Mobile: 972-51-236686

Josh Schwarz
Assistant to the Chairman of the Executive
Tel: 972-2-6202101
Mobile: 972-50-557901