The European Jewish Association (EJA) congratulated Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurtz on the establishment of the new Austrian government. In a statement, EJA Founder and Director Rabbi Menachem

Margolin said: �We remember Mr. Kurz as a foreign minister sensitive to the values of democracy and a friend of the Jewish people.

�In recent years, European Jewry has faced a wave of opposition to Jewish religious practices on the continent, as well as a worrying rise in the level of anti-Semitism and the popularity of extremist parties, both right and left. Jewish Ethics denote that a people are never rejected personally, but their behavior and actions are.

�For this reason, and in light of the statements made by the new government who all its members are united in condemning any expression of anti-Semitism, we congratulate the Austrian Chancellor on his unprecedented achievement and his success in founding a stable government.

�Austria as an EU member however poses a challenge. We cannot ignore the fear that in other countries extreme parties will join the government based on the Austrian model without the unambiguous rejection of anti-Semitism that Austria has provided.

�The European Jewish Association is asking the new government to join the United States, to European Union and other countries and to appoint a special government representative to initiate coordinate government action to eradicate anti-Semitism and Xenophobia in Austria in the spirit of the anti-Semitic definitions adopted in the European Parliament in June 2017 and to clarify that freedom of religion in Austria will remain unchanged�.

Photo: Menachem Margolin with PM of Estonia H.E. Juri Ratas

(YWN � Israel Desk, Jerusalem)