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Austria orders diplomat home from Israel for posing in ‘Nazi’ T-shirt

Austria's foreign ministry has summoned an attaché from its embassy in Israel after he posted a picture of himself on social media wearing a T-shirt bearing the name of a Nazi tank division.

Published: 21 March 2018 12:40 CET

Austria orders diplomat home from Israel for posing in 'Nazi' T-shirt

Austrian foreign minister Karin Kneissl has recalled the diplomat. Photo: AFP

A screenshot of the post on Jürgen-Michael Kleppich's Facebook page shows him in the green shirt with the words “Stand your ground” and “Frundsberg”, the Falter weekly reported.

The last name of Georg von Frundsberg, who was a mercenary in the 15th century, was used by the Nazis during World War II for its 10th SS Panzer division.

The garment is sold by Phalanx Europa, an online shop that sells “patriotic” clothing for followers of the nativist Identitarian movement.

The episode is the latest embarrassment for a member of the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) since it came to power in December in a coalition with the centre-right People's Party.

Kleppich, who is also an FPÖ local councillor in a district of Vienna, had previously posted a photo of his grandfather in a Nazi uniform, complete with swastika, according to Falter.

READ ALSO: Austria's far-right interior minister provokes outrage with call to 'concentrate' migrants

Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl has ordered Kleppich “be summoned to Vienna immediately to submit to a legal probe into the accusations in the media,” her ministry said late on Tuesday.

The FPÖ, founded by ex-Nazis in the 1950s, has sought to clean up its image and its leader Heinz-Christian Strache says the party rejects all racism and extremism.

But in January an FPÖ candidate in a state election quit after it emerged that his student fraternity had published a song book with lyrics praising the Holocaust.

They included the words “Step on the gas, old Germanics, we can make it to seven million”. Six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.

Interior Minister Herbert Kickl of the FPÖ is also under pressure over police raids on the domestic intelligence agency, which investigates extremist groups, including on the far-right.

Strache has visited Israel several times and supports moving the Austrian embassy to Jerusalem, as US President Donald Trump plans to do with the US mission.

But Israel's government has said it will not have direct contact with FPÖ ministers, a stance mirrored by Austria's Jewish community organisation the IKG.

READ ALSO: Austrian far-right party says criticism of Nazi ties is partly justified and pledges to clean up its act

The imam and rabbi's friendship that defies stereotypes in Austria

The two men’s talks, educating students about their religions, have taken on additional pertinence since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent relentless bombing of Gaza.

Since then Austria has seen a rise in both anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim acts, as elsewhere in Europe.

“We must separate religion from politics,” rabbi Hofmeister, 48, told the students, while imam Demir, 38, nodded in support. “This is not a religious war, it is a political conflict, a terrible conflict that must not impact our communities here in Europe,” Hofmeister added.

The two volunteers are in high demand because “just our friendship alone defies stereotypes”, according to Demir. Their diaries are packed until June, with the pair visiting some 30 Austrian schools.

During last week’s two-hour discussion at a high school in a working-class suburb of the capital, questions came thick and fast from the students aged 16 to 18.

A livestream allowed those unable to get a seat in the large hall to hear them explain how Jews and Muslims pray to the differences between kosher and halal.

The two men’s talks, educating students about their religions, have taken on additional pertinence since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent relentless bombing of Gaza. (Photo by Joe Klamar / AFP)

Talk on ‘equal footing’

The two bearded men — one wearing a kufi cap, the other a wide-brimmed fedora hat — met 10 years ago during an inter-religious project and have since worked together, travelling to Turkey, Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The Gaza war has not affected their friendship, they say.

“We want there to be peace, without any ifs and whens,” Demir said, while Hofmeister added that he was “glad they started to cooperate so early on to be able to address the current crisis.”

The war started when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of about 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures. But concern has mounted amid the high civilian death toll from Israel’s retaliatory campaign, now at almost 30,000, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

The Vienna school where the pair were speaking has 1,200 students of 63 different nationalities, although none identify as Jewish.

At each break, numerous students crowd around the duo, who use humour to lighten the atmosphere.

“It’s interesting to see how similar religions are,” 17-year-old Estella Dolas told AFP.

Austria is a majority Catholic country, with Muslims making up around 8 percent of the population. Only 0.1 percent — just 5,400 people — declared themselves as Jewish in the 2021 census.

School director Inge Joebstl, 55, said the rapport and respect between the two men, who spoke “on an equal footing”, made the students more receptive.

Especially since many of them will otherwise look for answers on social networks where “self-proclaimed experts converted two years ago explain to them what Islam is”, warned Demir.

“After we leave, the students may not remember everything we told them,” admitted Hofmeister. “But they will remember that an imam and a rabbi came to their school and that they got along well.”

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