Netanyahu: Austrian leader intends to change voting pattern at UN

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference Friday, amidst conflict between the to countries over the entry of a far-right party into the government in December.

“I met Chancellor Sebstian Kurz at his request,” Netanyahu said in a brief statement afterwards. “He told me about the various steps they are taking against anti-Semitism and in favor of Israel.”

Netanyahu added that Kurz “means to change Austria’s voting patterns at the UN and that he intends to support Israel’s candidacy for the Security Council.”

Israel has said it plans to vie for membership in the Security Council, but will have to be approved by two-thirds of the 193-member General Assembly. That body includes the 120-member Non-Aligned Movement, many of whose members would likely seek to keep Israel from sitting on the council.

Netanyahu summarized the meeting as “very friendly” and said Kurz “spoke to the point.”

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

Austria’s Jewish leaders have also shunned the far-right party.

Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, leader of the FPOe, has said he hopes to eventually overturn the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s ban on contacts, though he “fully respects” Jerusalem’s decision.

“We are striving for an honest, sustainable and friendly contact with Israel,” he said. “I fully respect this decision. It will be our task to do a good job at home as well as to convince abroad. I am optimistic that we will dispel all concerns.”

An Israeli MK this week called the boycott of Austria’s foreign minister “absurd” after meeting with Strache.

Yehudah Glick, of Israel’s ruling right-wing Likud party, said: “Many of the opinions about Mrs. Kneissl herself and about the Freedom Party are prejudiced.”

Israel suspended relations with Austria when the FPOe first entered the government in 2000, eventually normalizing relations again in 2003.

Strache, 48, has sought to soften the party’s image and has visited Israel several times, the last time in April 2016, when he met members of Netanyahu’s Likud.

AFP contributed to this report.