Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

Sebastian Kurz, the Chancellor of Austria made an appearance at the Yad Vashem in Israel during his three-day state visit to the country, which he had undertaken on the 10th. The Chancellor decided to take a detour from his diplomatic mission to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu by first visiting the Western Wall and the Yad Vashem. His visit to the monument was listed under ‘private’ as it tackled much more personal issues than being just a formal visit initiated to the place by a foreign country.

Chancellor Sebastian’s government back in Austria was formed by a coalition between his centre-right ÖVP and the far-right FPÖ, the latter being subjected to much criticism due to its relationship with ex-Nazis who had founded the party back in the 1950s. As expected, the Israeli government refused to cooperate with any ministers from the FPÖ, and if required, would only develop diplomatic relations with Chancellor Kurz’s party. It is to be noted that the vice-Chancellor of Austria Heinz-Christian Strache, the leader of the FPÖ, was notably absent from Chancellor Kurz’s delegation to Israel.

Nevertheless, during his visit to the Yad Vashem, a journey not popularly undertaken by other leaders of the EU, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced that Austria carried to this date the unimaginable burden of all the shameful crimes their ancestors had committed during the Shoah, which is the Hebrew word for the Holocaust. However, the Chancellor assured that both him and his fellow Austrians willingly held themselves responsible for their own history, and it was his personal duty to ensure that anything akin to the Shoah would never plague Israel again. Thus, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz extended his hand to the Israeli people as a show of respect by making it his obligation to visit the site of his own creating.

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