“Anti-Semitism hasn’t disappeared. It’s just taken on a new form. Today it hides under the guise of ‘criticism of Israel,’ but it’s the same old poison”

Photos: AP Images, Government Press Office
By Yisrael Yoskowitz, Vienna 

Austria’s former chancellor Karl Nehammer sticks to his principles even when they conflict with the popular political culture. While the EU was still formulating a lukewarm response after the October 7 massacre, Nehammer was Europe’s first unequivocal voice in Israel’s defense. And now he’s stepped down instead of negotiating with a victorious neo-Nazi party. “When politics becomes a game of spin and lies, I’m out”

Former Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer did something this past January that other politicians — Israeli ones in particular — could all take a lesson from: He handed over the keys, not because of corruption, pending indictments, internal rebellion, or waning public support; but because he made a promise to his voters and decided to keep his word.

“I said I wouldn’t form a coalition with a neo-Nazi party, even if it cost me my position,” he told Mishpacha in an exclusive exit interview.

The Austrian legislative elections last September threw the country into unprecedented turmoil, when the far-right, neo-Nazi-affiliated Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) gained a plurality of seats in the National Council. In order to form a government, Nehammer and his center-right People’s Party (ÖVP) would have to begin negotiations with the Freedom Party and its leader Herbert Kickl, a neo-Nazi populist whose party won the most seats in parliament (no party in parliament agreed to form a coalition with the FPÖ).

Months later, Christian Stocker, brought in as the new head of the ÖVP, clinched a deal with the more left-leaning parties, after Nehammer’s attempt to form a coalition with them failed in January.

In reality, no one expected Nehammer to actually form a coalition with the FPÖ — it was more about holding nonbinding talks for protocol’s sake. Those talks were expected to hit a dead end; he would then inform the president that his efforts had failed, and receive a green light to approach more moderate partners, even as they’d received less votes.
That’s pretty much what Stocker did, but Nehammer had given his word during the campaign and insisted on keeping it.

“I promised I wouldn’t negotiate with them, and I refused to break my commitment to the voters,” he told me. “One day, when my children ask me why I gave up the most important seat in Austria, I want them to see me as an example — that it’s possible to be a leader without selling your soul.”

Why, I asked, did he commit himself from the outset to such a high bar? Couldn’t he have excluded them even while holding superficial coalition negotiation?
“Because I promised myself and my people that I wouldn’t lend a hand to conspiracies and dangerous ideologies,” he says. “It’s better not to be in office than to cooperate with people I don’t believe in, legitimizing them simply by engaging in dialogue with them.”

No one knows what the future holds for him, but there’s one thing he’s absolutely certain about: “I will not lend legitimacy to populist, conspiratorial, extremist politicians.”

He left the position — but not his principles. “I have no regrets, not for a moment,” he said. “When politics becomes a game of power, spin, and lies, then I prefer to stay out of it.”

Nehammer, a former officer in Austria’s special forces, a daring commando who led soldiers on the battlefield, stumbled into power almost by accident. In 2020, when Islamist terrorism struck the heart of Vienna, Nehammer was serving as Minister of the Interior. While other European leaders facing similar attacks considered “measured responses,” he shut down radical mosques, deported fundamentalist activists, and made it clear to the European Union: The era of appeasement is over.

After the October 7 massacre, he was one of the clearest and most forceful voices defending Israel. While in Brussels they were still grappling with how to word lukewarm condemnations, he didn’t hesitate to let his European colleagues know, “Hamas is ISIS.”

Nehammer flew to Israel just two weeks into the war, to show solidarity with the Jewish state after the horrific massacre. “Never again is now,” he said in a presidential meeting in Jerusalem.

Showing solidarity with Israel wasn’t something new for Nehammer. During his tenure, he led strict legislation against anti-Semitism, worked to outlaw modern Nazi symbols, and launched an aggressive campaign against racism on social media.

“Anti-Semitism hasn’t disappeared,” he said. “It’s just taken on a new form. Today it hides under the guise of ‘criticism of Israel,’ but it’s the same old poison.”