Banning the defacing of national flags following a huge spike in anti-Semitic behaviour in Austria recently is something being proposed by Chancellor Karl Nehammer.
Reports of anti-Semitism have increased sharply in Austria recently, with a reported 300% increase from last year. Israeli flags, in particular, are being targeted.
Chancellor Karl Nehammer is looking at a universal ban on defacing country flags, even in cases where private individuals have hoisted them – which is currently legal.
“The glorification of terror and anti-Semitism have no place in Austria,” he told APA.
“I do not accept extremists taking to our streets, spreading terror and desecrating Israeli state symbols,” he added.
Nehammer’s announcement also comes in response to what most have deemed to be shocking scenes – like a woman who was recorded miming firing an automatic machine gun at a synagogue while her friends rip down the Israeli flag.
“Anti-Semitism has no place here. Hate has no place here!” stressed President Alexander Van der Bellen on 26 October. A survey by a weekly magazine profile found that some 75% of Austrians would support stricter actions against antisemitism.
A call to clamp down on protests where calls to exterminate Jews are made was put forward by the Israeli association’s president, Oskar Deutsch.
“And at almost all demonstrations, such slogans are chanted, so these demonstrations should be banned,” he told ORF on Sunday.
(Nikolaus J. Kurmayer | Euractiv.de)
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