Austrian leader credits Israel’s economic strength to the Holocaust

Visiting Austrian Chancellor Kern expresses his admiration for Israel and says the success of the startup nation is in part due to the Holocaust.

At a joint press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Jerusalem office, Kern says attending various Holocaust Remembrance Day memorials in recent days gave him “a better understanding why you are such a strong economic nation.”

“I think there is a direct line, that’s at least it’s my interpretation, between what happened in the Holocaust and your strength today,” Kern says. “And we have seen some of your ventures which were really impressive and I’m sure there could be a lot of lessons, learn a lot from your experience, learn a lot of how to be successful in a startup world.”

“You call yourself a startup nation and it’s definitely not exaggerated. The whole world is looking at you as a role model, so I’m looking very much forward to increasing our cooperation and bringing it to new levels,” he adds.