Vienna Between Israel Solidarity and Hamas Sympathy
Der Standard, October 8, 2023
Politicians back Israel, but pro-Palestinian demonstrations are causing a stir. How present is the glorification of Hamas in Austria?
The flag of Israel flew over the roofs of the Federal Chancellery and the Foreign Ministry over the weekend. But while Austrian politicians declared their solidarity with Israel and strongly criticized the terrorist attack by the Palestinian Hamas, anti-Israeli demonstrations marched through Vienna.
As early as Saturday afternoon, activists carrying Palestine flags gathered on Vienna's Mariahilfer Strasse, chanting "Freedom for Palestine." A video posted on X (formerly Twitter) by the journalists' alliance Kollektiv Communique also shows pro-Palestinian rallies on Ballhausplatz. The clip was also shared by Vienna's deputy mayor Christoph Wiederkehr (Neos), who stressed, "It is appalling and unacceptable that Hamas attacks on Israel are cheered in Vienna."
In a statement on Sunday, the Islamic Religious Community in Austria also condemned "not only excesses of violence and blatant human rights violations in the strongest possible terms," it also reacted to the rallies and called on people to "refrain from any form of glorification of violence, which can be observed in isolated cases on the streets of Austria."
Photos with Hamas leader
But that Hamas terrorists are glorified in Vienna is no surprise. On the contrary. This is shown by a look at the zillion-page file on the so-called Operation Luxor, which is available to the STANDARD. In the course of the investigation, dozens of raids against alleged Muslim Brothers took place in Austria on November 9, 2020. The focus was also on the question of whether the Islamists had indirectly financed Hamas, which had once emerged from a Palestinian offshoot of the Brotherhood.
Three years after the raids, this suspicion has not been substantiated - for example in the case of a 60-year-old man who is associated with a Viennese donation association. The case against him has since been dropped. However, investigators found plenty of Hamas propaganda on the man's smartphone, including anti-Jewish material calling Jerusalem a "cemetery of the Jews." Photos from 2012 also show that man with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyya. A conference was reportedly taking place in Gaza at the time. Security circles are still certain that Hamas is also being co-financed through the structures of the Muslim Brotherhood in Austria.
Relevant sermons
Further insight is provided by an association in Austria that was founded in 1998 and is considered the most important organization of the Muslim Brotherhood in Austria. In the association's Vienna headquarters, investigators were able to seize a guide in which not only broad education about Hamas was provided, but also the "liberation of the Holy Land and its cleansing from Zionist filth" was propagated, according to the file. In the Graz branch, in turn, a paper emerged in which Palestinian terrorists were stylized as heroes. Among them was an eminent Hamas cadre who had carried out several bomb attacks in the 1990s.
The preacher of a Viennese mosque had also been very outspoken. According to a study by the Dokumentationsstelle Politischer Islam (Documentation Center for Political Islam), in earlier speeches at the mosque he is said to have spoken of the "heroes in Gaza" or "our brothers, the leaders of Hamas, the leaders of the resistance," among other things.
Increased security measures
But what do these entanglements and demonstrations mean for the situation of Jews living in Austria? While there is currently no increased danger to Jews, whenever the conflict in Israel escalates, domestic institutions are also at risk of becoming the target of an attack. As a result of the terrorist attacks on Israel, protection measures for synagogues and other institutions of the Jewish Community in Austria have been increased. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution consistently takes action against all forms of Islamist extremism and terrorism. But it also fights those who finance or try to legitimize this terrorism and its terrible deeds," Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) is quoted as saying in a statement.
In security circles, there are fears that demonstrations by Palestinian activists will increase - accordingly, they would be under surveillance. This is also what FPÖ security spokesman Hannes Amesbauer is demanding. He declared that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution must deal with the "terror sympathizers" and demanded that "a stop be put to illegal mass immigration." And ÖVP Vienna leader Karl Mahrer also wants "not to go back to business as usual" after the anti-Israel rallies. In any case, there was another demonstration on Sunday afternoon - albeit only in a small circle: not even ten people, most of them draped in Palestine flags, expressed their solidarity with Palestine at the Memorial to the Persecutees of Nazi Military Justice on Vienna's Ballhausplatz.(jan, ook, 8.10.2023)