Likud MK calls to lift boycott on Austrian foreign minister

Likud MK Yehuda Glick calls the boycott of Austria’s foreign minister “absurd,” after meeting with the Austrian vice chancellor and head of a far-right party founded by former Nazis.

Glick speaks after a meeting with Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl during a visit to Vienna.

He says he also met Freedom Party of Austria (FPOe) chief Heinz-Christian Strache earlier today, despite objections from the local Jewish community.

The Freedom Party’s entry into government in December prompted Israel to say it would not have direct contact with FPOe ministers, including Kneissl who was nominated by the party even though she is not herself a member.

Glick says the boycott had led to the “absurd situation” where the Austrian ambassador in Israel was able to freely meet ministers there while the foreign minister was boycotted.

“Many of the opinions about Mrs Kneissl herself and about the Freedom Party are prejudiced,” Glick says, calling Kneissl “a true friend of Israel”.

“I will do every effort I can to try to convince the Israeli foreign ministry of the importance of strengthening the relationship with all the parties in Austria,” he says, while emphasizing that he was not in Austria as an official representative of the Israeli government and did not want to meddle in Austrian politics.

— AFP