Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli met this week with senior officials from Austria’s far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ), indicating further warming relations between Israel and the party, despite the latter’s Nazi roots.
The meeting was the first of its kind between an Israeli minister and senior representatives of the party, which remains officially boycotted by Israel.
However, it follows a landmark speech by FPÖ chairman Herbert Kickl in September in which he announced the party would unanimously adopt the full IHRA definition. Kickl also defined October 7 as “a crime against humanity, not resistance” and pledged that a government under his leadership would move Austria’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The speech was praised at the time by Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who said Kickl’s remarks “provide an opportunity to begin substantive, open and candid dialogue.” He also thanked Kickl for his apology to Austria’s Jewish citizens, victims and survivors of Nazism, their descendants, and the Jewish people.
The FPÖ was founded in 1956 by former Nazis: Its first leader, Anton Reinthaller, had been a senior Nazi official who held the rank of SS Brigadeführer, and his successor, Friedrich Peter, had served as an officer in an SS unit.
What does the FPÖ stand for?
Since its founding, the FPÖ has moved between nationalist liberalism, far-right politics and populist conservatism. It won Austria’s parliamentary election for the first time in its history in September 2024, securing approximately 29% of the vote. Kickl subsequently sought to form a government with the ÖVP, but coalition negotiations collapsed in February 2025.
Israel has long been hostile to the FPÖ due to its historical origins and the antisemitic associations of some of its members and affiliated organizations.
When the FPÖ entered Austria’s government in 2000, Israel recalled its ambassador and downgraded diplomatic representation, marking the start of an official boycott which persisted even when the party returned to government in 2017, and despite Israel having restored relations with Austria in 2003.
However, this week, on the eve of the anniversary of Kristallnacht, Chikli and Likud MK Ariel Kallner traveled to Austria for a brief visit led by FPÖ politician and Member of the European Parliament Harald Vilimsky, whom Chikli called his “friend.”
Chikli meets FPÖ on eve of Kristallnacht
In the Austrian Parliament in Vienna, Chikli met with National Council President Walter Rosenkranz and with Styria Governor and former Defense Minister Mario Kunasek - both also FPÖ politicians.
The visit concluded with a Kristallnacht memorial ceremony at the synagogue in Graz, in the presence of Jewish community chairman Elie Rosen and members of the community.
During his speech at the ceremony in Graz, Chikli said that “In Europe today there is great respect for dead Jews. As for living Jews, in large parts of the continent the attitude has not changed”.
He lamented the introduction of import sanctions in the Netherlands (“where roughly 75% of the country’s Jews were murdered in the Holocaust”), and other such boycotts in Belgium and Britain.
“The voices seeking to deny Israel’s right to exist are growing stronger, in a combined assault by two forces: Palestinian Islamo-Nazism and the progressive left,” he said.
Chikli argued that the Freedom Party and other “conservative” parties in Europe are “the last chance for European nation-states to stop the slide before reaching the point of no return.”
“Anyone who thinks the lesson of the Second World War is that we must deny the peoples of Europe the German, Austrian, French or English the right to sovereign national life, and replace that life with some progressive post-national mishmash, will bring ruin upon European civilization.”
Chikli’s language was warm; he described Likud’s “partnership” with the Freedom Party and described Vilimsky as his friend.
He also said he was “deeply grateful” to the members of the Freedom Party, who, alongside adopting the IHRA definition, chose to emphasize the Jewish people’s historical connection to all parts of its homeland, “especially Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem.”
He also referred to Kickl’s speech last month as a “historic turning point in a process of building trust that began roughly two years ago” and praised Kickl for “breaking a decades-long taboo in the relationship between Israel and the FPÖ.”
Following the visit, Vilimsky reciprocally expressed warmth towards Chikli, calling him “Dear Minister” and saying it was an “honor for us to host you here in Austria.”
Chikli’s ties to far-right European politicians
Over the last few years, Chikli has received criticism both domestically and from Diaspora Jews who believe his push towards friendship with far-right European parties and political figures is a betrayal of Jewish history.
Last year, politicians from far-right parties in Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands were invited by Chikli to speak at the International Conference on Combating Antisemitism in Jerusalem.
Among the invitees were Jordan Bardella, head of France’s National Rally Party, which was co-founded by a former member of the Nazi Waffen-SS. Bardella and Chikli met in 2025 in Washington, D.C. Chikli also invited Spain’s Hermann Tertsch, a Vox politician whose father was an Austrian Nazi leader in Spain.
Until recently, Israel’s decision to end its longstanding boycott of far-right parties in Sweden, France and Spain did not extend to similar parties in Austria and Germany, such as FPÖ and the AfD.
This new relationship between the Likud minister and FPÖ signifies that the longstanding boycott of the Austrian right may be set to end.
Nevertheless, on the cusp of a new government, it is hard to determine whether an official policy change will occur from Israel’s side, even if the FPÖ is seeking to establish itself as a defender of Jewish communities and Israel.
Follow us on GoogleSource: The Jerusalem Post · MATHILDA HELLER
At a glance
- Topic
- World
- Country
- 🇮🇱 IL
- Publisher language
- EN
- Added to Allnira