Following Criticism of Israel

Minister: “Van der Bellen Should Be Ashamed”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa‘ar responded to Alexander Van der Bellen’s criticism with a highly emotional post.(Bild: Krone-Collage/AFP/MARTIN METELKO, APA/HANS KLAUS TECHT)

On Tuesday in New York, Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen criticized Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The response from Tel Aviv was not long in coming; Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar reacted with a rather emotional post on X. The president of the Jewish Community of Vienna and the FPÖ also weighed in. Federal Chancellor Christian Stocker, who was also present during the statement, responded cautiously. 

At a press conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Van der Bellen had spoken of “violations of international law” and “war crimes,” citing, for example, the forced displacement of Palestinians living in the West Bank. 

Foreign Minister Reacts Angrily
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar subsequently wrote in a post that Van der Bellen “should be ashamed”: “A representative of a country whose past is linked to the greatest crime against humanity and the Jewish people has the audacity to level false accusations against the Jewish state.”

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa‘ar responded to Alexander Van der Bellen’s criticism with an extremely emotional post.(Bild: Krone-Collage/AFP/MARTIN METELKO, APA/HANS KLAUS TECHT)

He noted that Israel is “constantly engaged in fighting jihadists who relentlessly seek to destroy us.” Nevertheless, he added on platform X, Israel would not hold any Austrian responsible for “the nonsense their president spouts.” 

Oskar Deutsch, president of the Jewish Community of Vienna (IKG), described Van der Bellen as a friend of Israel who is sincerely committed to the Jewish community. “This makes what he said yesterday in New York all the more troubling: He spoke of war crimes and attributed responsibility to one side—Israel. That is taking sides. He didn’t say a word about the existential threat posed by Palestinian terrorist organizations, as well as the Iranian regime and its proxies. He didn’t mention the attacks on Israelis or the declared goal of wiping out the Jews,” Deutsch posted on X. Diplomacy, he said, means seeing a conflict in its entirety. If a head of state presents one-sided accusations as facts, then he legitimizes those who “already knew” who was to blame, Deutsch continued.

Stocker’s Spokesperson Points to the Courts
Austria has a special responsibility toward the State of Israel due to its history, emphasized Claudia Türtscher, foreign policy spokesperson for Chancellor Stocker. “Israel’s right to exist is beyond question. For us, the binding nature of international law is equally beyond question.” Determining whether a violation of the law has occurred is the task of the courts, Türtscher explained in a statement.

Sudden Support for Israel from the FPÖ
Criticism of the Federal President’s remarks also came from the FPÖ. “Is VdB completely in lockstep with his left-wing buddies in Berlin? We don’t need people who sympathize with Hamas! Bad for Austria!” posted FPÖ Member of the European Parliament Harald Vilimsky on X.

A week ago, Vilimsky, together with representatives of his “Patriots for Europe” faction in the European Parliament, had invited leading representatives of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party to a conference titled “Islamism and Anti-Semitism: Threats to Europe’s Freedom.” FPÖ Chairman Herbert Kickl also made a surprise appearance. Until now, FPÖ politicians had been shunned by official Israeli representatives, in part out of solidarity with the Jewish community in Austria.

Macron Also Condemned the Situation in the West Bank
Van der Bellen was not the first head of state to criticize Israel’s actions; French President Emmanuel Macron had also denounced the situation in the West Bank before the UN General Assembly. Israel had reacted with outrage to that as well.

The “grotesque absurdity” of Macron’s remarks was “shocking,” the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Tuesday. “Hamas terrorists carry out attacks against Jews almost daily. They have murdered countless Israeli civilians in Judea and Samaria,” Netanyahu’s office stated, using the biblical names for the West Bank, which Israel captured in 1967 during the Six-Day War.

Escalation of Violence
Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War. About three million Palestinians and more than 500,000 Israeli settlers live there. The settlements are illegal under international law. Since the Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, violence in the West Bank has increased significantly.

During the massacres on October 7, 2023, the Islamists killed 1,221 people and took 251 victims hostage, abducting them to the Gaza Strip. Israel responded with a massive military operation in the Gaza Strip, during which, according to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, more than 73,000 people were killed.