{"id":110151,"date":"2016-11-29T08:06:59","date_gmt":"2016-11-29T16:06:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=110151"},"modified":"2016-11-29T08:07:23","modified_gmt":"2016-11-29T16:07:23","slug":"how-the-far-right-is-trying-to-woo-an-unlikely-ally-jews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=110151","title":{"rendered":"How the far right is trying to woo an unlikely ally \u2014 Jews"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington Post<\/a>:<\/p>\n

VIENNA \u2014 Attendees gathered this month inside Vienna\u2019s opulent Grand Hotel for an extraordinary event billed as the \u201cNew Anti-Semitism Conference.\u201d The Israeli superspy who hunted down war criminal Adolf Eichmann flew in for the occasion, timed to commemorate the 1938 night when the Nazis stormed Jewish synagogues and businesses.<\/p>\n

What made the event truly remarkable, however, was its sponsor: Austria\u2019s Freedom Party \u2014 a far-right movement founded in part by former Nazis and now on the cusp of capturing this nation\u2019s presidency.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are one of the most pro-Israel parties in Europe,\u201d insisted Michael Kleiner, a conference panelist and former member of the Israeli parliament.<\/p>\n

Newly energized by the presidential victory of Donald Trump, far-right and anti-establishment forces are pushing into the mainstream on both sides of the Atlantic. As they do, many are seeking to neutralize one of their oldest and most debilitating labels: as anti-Semites. <\/p>\n

In the United States, top Trump adviser Stephen Bannon is fending off accusations of anti-Semitism even as a string of archconservative Jewish voices rally to his defense. Using the forum of Breitbart News \u2014 the same website Bannon ran and described as \u201cthe platform for the alt-right\u201d \u2014 they have called him an \u201chonorary Jew\u201d and \u201ca man without an Anti-Semitic bone in his body.\u201d<\/p>\n

In France, the Netherlands and Sweden, far-right nationalists are counter-programming decades of deeply engrained anti-Semitism in their ranks. As left-wing parties in Europe press for boycotts of Israel over its treatment of Palestinians, far-right European politicians \u2014 at least in public \u2014 are promising Israelis their full support.<\/p>\n

Nowhere has the rebranding been more effective than here in Austria. The Freedom Party candidate, Norbert Hofer, is facing a center-left opponent in a rerun of May\u2019s presidential election \u2014 which Hofer narrowly lost \u2014 following a successful court challenge by the far right. Ahead of the Dec. 4 vote, Hofer and his opponent are in a statistical tie. Although the job of Austrian president is traditionally ceremonial, it comes with ambiguous powers that Hofer has vowed to amp up. A Freedom Party victory would make Hofer the first far-right head of state in Western Europe since the demise of Nazi Germany.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington Post: VIENNA \u2014 Attendees gathered this month inside Vienna\u2019s opulent Grand Hotel for an extraordinary event billed as the \u201cNew Anti-Semitism Conference.\u201d The Israeli superspy who hunted down war criminal Adolf Eichmann flew in for the occasion, timed to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42720,605],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alt-right","category-anti-semitism"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t