Austrian minister rejects accusations of antisemitism

A literature Nobelist, Jewish students and other prominent figures in Austria want the country’s new interior minister removed from office because of allegedly antisemitic comments he made during a regional election campaign more than a decade ago.

Gerhard Karner, who became interior minister a week ago when predecessor Karl Nehammer became Austria’s new chancellor, says that he regrets what he said and wouldn’t say it now, but he rejected allegations of antisemitism.

According to a report in German news weekly Der Spiegel, the conservative Karner once accused Austria’s center-left Social Democrats of working “against the country with gentlemen from America and Israel,” and described them as “climate poisoners.”

Der Spiegel quoted a spokesperson for the minister as saying Karner was referring to suspected “dirty campaigning” by an Israeli political adviser.

An open letter from a group that included Jewish students, academics, Nobel Prize-winning playwright Elfriede Jelinek and others expressed dismay at Karner’s appointment.

“The antisemitic dimension of this comment is obvious,” the letter stated.

Karner says in a statement that fighting antisemitism and every form of extremism has been a “deeply personal concern” of his for decades.

He says he has arranged a personal meeting with Austria’s main Jewish leader, Oskar Deutsch, who had asked for him to clarify what he said over 13 years ago, when Karner was a regional official with the conservative Austrian People’s Party.