The Correct Attitude to the Right-wing Movements in Europe

by HaRav Eliezer Melamed
Rosh HaYeshiva, Har Bracha
Recently, we once again heard that the Israeli Foreign Ministry is debating how to treat the right-wing parties in Europe, especially the Austrian right-wing Freedom Party, whose leaders are now members of the government. For years, the traditional position was boycotting, because although most of the leaders and members of these parties repudiated the Nazis and the Holocaust, these movements served as incubators for Nazi supporters and Holocaust deniers.

In recent years, however, radical right movements have undergone a process of change. Leaders have arose who shook off the racist Nazi heritage and openly support the State of Israel. They removed anti-Jewish neo-Nazis from their movements in shame. They refined the national positions of the movements, and now they express a just position that demands the preservation of the national, religious and cultural identity of the peoples of Europe. Just as the property of a private individual must not be usurped, as the communists did in the countries they took over, people should not be deprived of their national and religious identity, as the liberals of the left, the Communist successors such as the British Labor Party, wish to do today.

In light of this, the moral stance, as well as considerations of benefit, oblige us to examine positively the ties with the right-wing movements in Europe, where each case must be examined on its merits. A movement that completely renounces anti-Semitism and racism deserves respect, encouragement and cooperation. The agreed position should be that the just struggle against violent and aggressive Islam, and anyone who threatens their national identity, is defined as a struggle for the rule of law and order and for the establishment of a clear national identity for the state, but in no way for xenophobia.

Strache and the Austrian Freedom Movement

Several years ago, leaders of the right-wing movements in Europe visited Israel. One of them was Heinz Christian Strache, the leader of the Austrian Freedom Movement. During their visit, they also came to Har Bracha, and after hearing from former MK Elyakim Haetzni that according to what he had inspected, they were decent people, and we received them with all due respect. At the meeting, Strache spoke in German, and Elyakim Haetzni translated it into Hebrew. It was an enthusiastic Zionist speech, of a man who appreciates the Jewish people and its tremendous achievements in the building of the Land of Israel, socially, culturally, economically and scientifically, and in the face of bravery against the Arab enemy. In his speech, he pledged to always stand for the right of Israel and the settlers who returned to the land of the Bible and stand bravely as a wall in the face of Arab terror and are considered the front line of defense in Europe’s security.

I later heard from Elyakim Haetzni, that a member of the Jewish community in Vienna had contacted him, claiming that there were other neo-Nazis in the Austrian Freedom Party, and how could we meet with them. Elyakim did not waste time, asked for the names of the anti-Semitic activists and transferred them to the leaders of the Austrian party. They were later removed from the ranks of the party. And even the Jew who complained, once again reported to Elyakim Haetzni that the party was now clean, without neo-Nazi activists.

It seems that in such a situation, it would be correct for the official representatives of the State of Israel to establish good relations with representatives of the Austrian Freedom Party and its leader.