Historic turning point between Austria’s Freedom Party, the State of Israel and the Jewish people.

Amichai Chikli | X | Sept 17, 2026

Herbert Kickl, Federal Chairman of the Freedom Party of Austria. By Michael Lucan – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, Link

What unfolded yesterday in the European Parliament marks a historic turning point in the relationship between Austria’s Freedom Party, the State of Israel and the Jewish people.

More than a turning point, this was a crossing of the Rubicon, following a long process of building trust, deepening cooperation, and creating a genuine political bridge between Israel and Austria’s Freedom Party.

The speech delivered yesterday by Herbert Kickl, Federal Chairman of the Freedom Party of Austria, in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, was one of the most significant speeches ever delivered by an Austrian politician regarding Israel and the Jewish people.

I had the privilege of being part of this process and of helping advance it over the past two years, together with my friend Harald @vilimsky
, Member of the European Parliament for the Freedom Party of Austria, and Yossi Dagan, Chairman of the Samaria Regional Council.

Here are the key passages from his speech:

“Ladies and gentlemen,
It has been nearly three years since Hamas carried out the most severe attack on Israel from Gaza since the state’s founding, and the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.

Thousands of rockets. Terrorists breached the border fence. Well over a thousand dead, mostly civilians: children, women and the elderly. 251 hostages were abducted to Gaza.

That was not so called ‘resistance’. It was a crime against humanity.
The deliberate killing of civilians and the taking of hostages are clearly war crimes.

I do not wish to pass blanket judgment on Muslims here. Millions of people of the Muslim faith reject violence and want to live in peace. But Islamism is not a private matter of faith. It is a politically extremist ideology.

Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, Boko Haram, they all preach the same hatred toward who we are, what we believe in and what we stand for…

Across Europe, antisemitism is on the rise. Experts warn that Europe could experience many small ‘October 7ths’.

That must not happen.
And it will not happen if patriotic forces take responsibility.

This must be stated honestly and without hesitation. Islamism is a politically extremist ideology. It threatens our states, our legal systems, Christians and Jews, as well as our Western values.

In many European cities, synagogues and Jewish schools require heavy security. Students hide their Star of David. Families wonder whether Europe still offers them a future.

Jewish citizens must be able to study, work, pray, assemble and participate in public life without fear, no ifs, ands or buts. Their safety is the benchmark for the freedom of the entire republic.

As chairman of the FPÖ,
I also stand here in the tradition of my country and my party.

I take responsibility for today and tomorrow. Combating antisemitism and protecting Jewish life will be part of the agenda of a federal government that I intend to lead, if the Austrian people grant us the mandate and cast their votes for us.

Antisemitism must be rejected, no matter where it comes from: from the far right, from the radical left, from conspiracy movements and from Islamist networks that have gained influence through illegal migration.

A credible commitment also requires confronting one’s own history. As an Austrian, I in particular wish to reaffirm this.

The unprecedented crime against humanity that was the Holocaust must not be forgotten.

As chairman of the Freedom Party of Austria, I express my deep regret before this international audience and sincerely apologize to the Jewish citizens of Austria, to the victims and survivors of National Socialism, to their descendants and to the Jewish people.

There must be no relativization of the Holocaust and no tolerance for those who glorify that regime.

We cannot undo the past. Unfortunately. But we can actively shape the future together.

And we want to do this in concrete terms and without interpretation… >>>>

The FPÖ’s Federal Party Executive Committee has unanimously recognized the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s 2016 working definition.

We accept it in its entirety, including all eleven examples in their full context.

First: the call for, support of or justification of the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist interpretation of religion.

Second: dehumanizing, demonizing or stereotypical claims about Jews or Jewish power, including myths about a global Jewish conspiracy or the claim that Jews control the media, the economy, the government or other institutions.

Third: the accusation that Jews, as a people, are responsible for the actual or imagined misdeeds of an individual Jewish person or group, or even for the actions of non Jews.

Fourth: denying the fact, scale, mechanisms or intentional nature of the genocide against the Jewish people perpetrated by Nazi Germany and its accomplices during World War II.

Fifth: accusing Jews as a people or Israel as a state of having invented or exaggerated the Holocaust.

Sixth: accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel or to alleged global Jewish interests than to their own country.

Seventh: denying the Jewish people their right to self determination, for example by claiming that the very existence of the State of Israel is a racist endeavor.

Eighth: applying a double standard to Israel by demanding behavior from it that is not expected or required of any other democratic nation.

Ninth: using symbols and images of classic antisemitism, including depictions of the ritual murder myth or the claim of collective Jewish guilt for the death of Jesus, to characterize Israel or Israelis.

Tenth: comparing current Israeli policies to those of the Nazis.

Eleventh: attributing collective responsibility to Jews for the actions of the State of Israel.

These examples help institutions recognize antisemitism in the forms in which it actually occurs. Context must always be taken into account.

Criticism of a specific decision by an Israeli government, comparable to criticism of any other democratic government, is not in itself antisemitic.

Criticism becomes antisemitic when it demonizes Jews, applies discriminatory standards, denies Jews’ right to self determination or holds Jewish citizens collectively responsible.

I am not reading these eleven examples aloud here to conduct an academic exercise. I am reading them aloud so that no one can later claim that this recognition is non binding, incomplete or intended solely for internal use.

Anyone who downplays any of these examples downplays the definition itself. Under my leadership, we stand by this. There should be no room for misinterpretation.

Likewise, it is of great importance to me to strive, as part of a government consensus, to relocate the Austrian embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and to take seriously the Jewish people’s historical connection to Judea and Samaria.

If you will: We stand closer here to Trump and Milei than to Ms. von der Leyen. That will come as no surprise to you.

Today, the Freedom Party extends a hand to Israel and the Jewish communities toward a new partnership based on trust and practical cooperation.

Trust cannot be demanded. It must be earned. Judge us by our actions, not our words. >>>>

Trust does not grow through a speech. It grows when Jewish families in Vienna can once again walk the streets without fear, and when Israel has a partner in Europe that matches its words with deeds.

We want to deepen cooperation in counterterrorism, intelligence and the protection of public spaces. This includes partnerships in technology, cybersecurity, water management, medicine, energy, agriculture and innovation.

More trade, science, education and exchanges between young Austrians and Israelis.

We will support thorough Holocaust education and the preservation of Jewish heritage in Austria, while at the same time building a vibrant, forward looking partnership.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is our commitment:
To face our history honestly.

To combat antisemitism from every source.

To confront the particular danger of radical Islamism with courage and determination.

To protect Jewish life in Austria and Europe.

And to fully adopt the IHRA definition.

‘Never again’ must not be an empty phrase uttered only on days of remembrance. It must guide our laws, our alliances and our decisions.

May this conference mark the beginning of even greater true responsibility, manifested in action. Of friendship founded on truth. And of a Europe in which Jewish citizens do not live in fear, but in freedom and confidence.

And for the preservation of our shared Judeo Christian heritage.

For our nations. Our peoples. For democracy. Freedom. And our responsibility for the common good.

Thank you very much.”

This is why yesterday’s speech matters.

It was not the beginning of a process. It was the culmination of one.

A process that has lasted more than two years, built step by step through dialogue, trust and cooperation, and which I had the privilege of being part of.

Yesterday, that process crossed the Rubicon.

From declarations to partnership.

From words to commitments.

And now, from commitments to action.

My thanks to Harald Vilimsky for his leadership throughout this process, to the Patriots for Europe group, and to my friend Yossi Dagan for pushing this effort forward every step of the way.