Austria Chancellor pledges new era in relationship with Israel - Haaretz

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Thu., September 06, 2007 Elul 23, 5767

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Last update - 16:53 03/09/2007

Austria Chancellor pledges new era in relationship with Israel

By The Associated Press

Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer on Monday kicked off a two-day visit to Israel, pledging a new chapter in his country's emotional and often strained relationship with the state.

Gusenbauer's visit is the first to Israel by an Austrian head of government in close to a decade and only the third since the country was founded in the wake of the Nazi Holocaust. Ties have often been strained because of Austria's alliance with Germany during World War II.

It's true that the relationship between Austria and Israel not always has been an easy one, but I think we are embarking on a new initiative," Gusenbauer said at a red-carpet welcome ceremony at the office of PrimeMinister Ehud Olmert.

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"We are opening up a new chapter in our relationship, a chapter of friendship and cooperation," he said, speaking in English.

The Austrian leader started his day with a visit to Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust museum and memorial, where he stood for a moment in silence and laid a wreath in memory of the six million European Jews killed by the Nazis.

"I'm very moved by my visit to Yad Vashem," he wrote in the visitors' book. "It reminds us of the incredible brutality that man is able to exercise. It reminds us to be vigilant against all forms of racism and anti-Semitism ... It reminds us of our responsibility to safeguard the security of Israel and its neighbors, to secure the rebirth of the Jewish people."

Many Austrians enthusiastically supported the Austrian-born Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and about 70,000 Austrian Jews were killed in the Holocaust. For years Austria rejected responsibility for the persecution of Jews on its territory, arguing that it became the first victim of German aggression when Hitler annexed Austria in 1938.

Franz Vranitzky was the first Austrian chancellor to visit Israel, in 1993, as part of a tentative thawing of relations after the six-year term of Kurt Waldheim, who served during World War II as a junior army officer in a Nazi army unit in Yugoslavia.

Waldheim said he had not been involved in any wrongdoing during his service in the Balkans, but Israel downgraded relations in protest.

Vranitzky made an explicit acknowledgment of Austria's role in the Holocaust during his 1993 visit to Jerusalem when he said that Austrians helped the Nazi regime to function and must beg forgiveness.

In March 1998 then-chancellor Viktor Klima said during a trip to Jerusalem that ties between the two countries were improving in light of Austria's attempts to look more honestly at its Nazi past, but relations took a downturn
two years later when Israel recalled its ambassador from Vienna to protest the inclusion of the extreme right-wing Freedom Party in the federal government.

Gusenbauer said during his visit Monday that Iran must not only slow down its uranium enrichment activities, but stop it completely.

Gusenbauer spoke during a reception ceremony held by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem. The chancellor also said that "we have to track closely the sanctions on Iran, and even move beyond them."

Olmert called on his Austrian counterpart to expand the sanctions on Iran, to support negotiations with Israel and the Palestinian Authority and to refrain from holding contacts with terror organizations.

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1.	I look forward to see how Austria will contribute to stopping	17:09	\|	Petra	03/09/07

2.	# 1	18:23	\|	Kris	03/09/07

3.	Austria Big Trade Partner with Iran / Lies	18:47	\|	Semsem	03/09/07

4.	#2 Blaming the Jews for Anti Israeli policy	18:51	\|	Elly Feuerwerk	03/09/07

5.	Germany More Honest than Austria	18:59	\|	Laila	03/09/07

6.	austrian citizenship to holocaust survivors	19:24	\|	josh	03/09/07

7.	Austria Is More Anti Jewish Than Necessary	19:28	\|	Herr A Haider	03/09/07

8.	MAY ALL VICTIMS OF WWII REST IN PEACE .	20:47	\|	Robert Of Jerusalem	03/09/07

9.	Self-righteous ignorance (#7)	21:56	\|	Paul Kaye	03/09/07

10.	Jews helping Jews meet Jews	01:54	\|	George	07/09/07

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