A week before the exposure and thwarting of the ISIS-inspired terrorist cell that planned to carry out mass murder at one of the concerts of the American singer Taylor Swift in Vienna, the list of parties that will participate in the general elections for the Austrian Parliament, to be held on September 29, was closed.
One of those parties is the Gaza List – Voices against the Genocide, or “Gaza” for short, a newly founded party that managed to obtain the 2,600 necessary signatures of support which are required from parties that are not already represented in the parliament to be able to participate in the elections. The Gaza List boasts that it received over 6,000 signatures throughout Austria.
What connects the Austrian parliamentary elections with Gaza?
Well, in light of the declared support of the Austrian government for Israel – support that continues consistently since the days of the previous conservative chancellor, Sebastian Kurz – the Gaza List seeks to revive the pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist legacy of the late Jewish chancellor, Bruno Kreisky, who headed Austrian governments between 1970 and 1983 and paved the way for the West’s recognition of the PLO and its adoption of the “two states for two peoples” solution.
Raising the Israeli flag over the chancellor’s office in Vienna on October 7 as a sign of solidarity with the Israeli victims of the Hamas pogrom, and Austria voting against a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip three times in the UN since then, have elicited nostalgia for the days when Kreisky defended Yasser Arafat and his men among left-wingers in Austria. He did so in the name of “Austrian neutrality” and turned them into welcomed guests of government in Western Europe.
Behind the Gaza List stands the organization Palestine Solidarity Austria, an umbrella organization of extreme leftist movements (some of which support terrorist organizations), the Austrian branch of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign, and various Austrian bodies supporting the Palestinian side of the conflict.
One of the organizations affiliated with Palestine Solidarity Austria is Anti-Imperialist Coordination, which openly supports the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a terrorist organization, and has been accused for decades by one of the main antisemitism monitoring centers in Austria, the Documentation Archive of the Austrian Resistance, of spreading antisemitism under its form of anti-Zionism.
Activists of Palestine Solidarity Austria hailed the October 7 pogrom as “a powerful act of resistance.” A candidate on the Gaza List, Willi Langthaler, said the pogrom should be seen as an attempt to break out of the Gaza prison and can be compared to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
The Gaza List stands for peace, neutrality, justice, strengthening democracy, self-determination, and social equality, it claims. “This is the only way to achieve peace,” say its members – in Palestine, of course.
Beyond these slogans, there is a clear intention to bring anti-Zionist voices into the Austrian Parliament that are opposed to the existence of the State of Israel and Austrian support of Israel, and at the same time, to fight within the Austrian Parliament the current conservative-led government’s policy of preventing the spread of radical political Islam in Austria.
The Gaza List demands the abolition of bodies established in Austria to monitor the activities of radical Islamic organizations and mosques. This includes the Documentation Center of Political Islam, which was established during the tenure of former chancellor Kurz, as well as an academic mapping project of Islamic organizations and mosques in Austria carried out at the University of Vienna. The members of the Gaza List claim that the activity of these bodies constitutes religious persecution and harms the freedom of worship and opinion.
In the name of protecting freedom of expression, opinion, and religion, the Gaza List advocates the repeal of the definition of antisemitism formulated by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), since this definition also considers types of criticism of Israel and Zionism as being antisemitic.
According to the leaders of the list, Kreisky, if he were still alive today, would have been accused of being antisemitic and would have found himself prosecuted for defending terrorist acts. However, they hide the fact that, already in his lifetime, Kreisky was called antisemitic by his Israeli and Jewish opponents, including the leaders of the Labor and Mapam parties at the time.
To protect themselves from being accused of antisemitism, the members of the Gaza List declare that they are waging a determined fight against antisemitism and any other type of racism. “All parties in Austria support the genocide [in Gaza], while we stand and say that ‘no more’ should apply for everyone,” states the party’s website.
In doing so, the list actually creates a comparison between the Nazis, who executed the Holocaust, many of whom were Austrians, and Israel. According to the IHRA definition of antisemitism, such a comparison is antisemitic – another good reason to oppose the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
Of course, it is impossible to imagine a party of this kind without the participation of Jews and Israelis – the ultimate guarantee against accusations of antisemitism. Among the national candidates of the Gaza List is Dalia Sarig, who presents herself as Jewish and a daughter of parents who fled Austria after the Anschluss in 1938. Sarig is one of the founders of the small Jewish leftist organization Not In Our Name, which has been taking an active part in the anti-Israel demonstrations since October 7. This organization is avowedly anti-Zionist.
In her speeches, Sarig criticizes the “cynical transformation of antisemitism into a weapon designed to silence Muslims” and the “abuse of the Holocaust, designed to implement political racism.”
“Criticism against Israel is not antisemitism,” Sarig explains in a video on the Gaza List home page. “Israel has a fascist government, and it must be said loud and clearly.”
The colorful characters on the Gaza List
SARIG, LANGTHALER, and other Israel haters on the Gaza List are overshadowed by the controversial and colorful figure of one of the heads of the list, the well-known lawyer and crime-books author Dr. Astrid Wagner.
Wagner, 61, gained a public reputation by defending in courts some of the infamous criminals Austria has known in its modern history, and has also written best-selling books about these cases.
One of Wagner’s most known clients was Josef Fritzl, the father who kept his daughter in an underground bunker under the family house for 24 years, raping her continuously and making her pregnant at least six times.
Another client of Wagner’s, known as “the lake killer,” was an Austrian man in his 60s who murdered a young sex worker because she mocked him, dismembered her body, froze her flesh, from which he later cooked goulash, and sunk the rest of the body in a lake. The cannibal and Fritzl share the same prison and have developed a very strong friendship.
Wagner was also in contact with the first Austrian serial killer after World War II, Jack Unterweger. Unterweger was sentenced in the 1970s to life imprisonment for the murder of a young German woman. During his stay in prison, Unterweger began a very active literary career: he wrote poetry and novels, some of which were autobiographical, and scripts for Austrian public television.
Admiring his writing, a group of intellectuals, including later winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature – the German Gunter Grass and the Austrian Elfriede Jelinek – demanded and achieved his early release from jail. Unterweger gained freedom in the early 1990s and became a very popular personality in Viennese high society circles.
Shortly after his release, a series of murders of sex workers began in the Czech Republic, Austria, and the United States, all of which were carried out in the same manner. Suspicion did fall on Unterweger, but he claimed that he was innocent and was being persecuted by the police.
Interestingly, he became an investigative journalist who was asked to write as an expert about the crimes he himself committed. After the Austrian police managed to gather enough evidence against Unterweger and sought to arrest him, he fled to Switzerland, from there to France, and finally to the US, where he was arrested and handed over to the Austrian authorities. He was put again on trial. In June 1994, he was found guilty of nine of the 11 murders attributed to him and was sentenced to life imprisonment. That night, Unterweger ended his life by hanging himself.
Wagner met Unterweger after his extradition to Austria at a time when she was a novice lawyer, dealing mainly with real estate and rent matters. After reading his books, she became interested in Unterweger and approached him.
The platonic relationship between them, which began with an exchange of letters, continued, according to her, for about two years until his death, even though they knew they would never share a common future. The relationship between the two was revealed when Wagner asked to play a role in the murderer’s second trial.
In one of Wagner’s office rooms in Vienna, hang “artistic” profile paintings of some criminals whom Wagner represented. Now, she wishes to represent the Palestinian cause in the Austrian Parliament.
She accuses the other Austrian parties of “being afraid to condemn the Israeli military activity for fear that they will be stamped with antisemitism.” In one of her public speeches, she also compared Israel to the Nazis by stating “the Nazis also justified the Holocaust as a vital defensive action.” However, in an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Wagner rejected such comparisons. “They are inappropriate,” she said. “One should avoid them because one can’t compare the two. If anyone says that Israel is Nazi, it’s inappropriate. It doesn’t change the fact that what happens now in Gaza is horrible.”
Wagner explained that there is a strong connection between the situation in Gaza and the election in Austria: “Austria exercised for a long time, already under Bruno Kreisky, a very active neutrality policy, and a broker role within the peace process in the Middle East. The whole Oslo process has its origins in the actions of Kreisky and other politicians.
“Kreisky started talking with those who were considered terrorists at the time. It’s a long Austrian tradition.
“Many people here are upset with the current position of the Austrian government, which since the days of Kurz has been very pro-Israeli and one-sided. We get the shocking news from the war in Gaza and about the right-wing government in Israel, and many Austrians say that we shouldn’t choose a side in this situation. However, they feel they cannot freely express their opinion on this subject here.
“I am working now on 50 cases of people who are prosecuted for saying ‘from the river to sea’ – not with the meaning that Hamas gives this slogan, but encouraging the creation of a democratic state in this region, in which all will have the same rights.
“Many [pro-Palestinan] gatherings were not allowed to take place or were dissolved,” Wagner continued. “We are being treated by the authorities in a way that resembles a police state. People have the feeling that this attitude of the authorities doesn’t only concern the Gaza demonstrations but is aimed at limiting our whole freedom of expression. The Gaza List is an attempt to raise public attention to the fact that we disagree with this policy.
“The list’s name includes the wording ‘voices against the genocide.’ One has to say that in Austria, and Germany as well, nobody dares to say anything about what happens in Gaza.... I believe that even in Israel, there is more critical reporting and more freedom of expression regarding this war. Therefore, the Gaza List has a lot to do with Austria. In my view, the whole Middle East conflict is European-made and is very much connected to European history.”
Austrian neutrality should also exist regarding the war in Ukraine. Why is the new party not called the Kyiv List?
“In our party, many agree that our neutrality should be exercised regarding the war in Ukraine, too,” stressed Wagner. “Many Austrians also consider the pro-US position of our government as highly problematic. As a result, we have huge problems in Europe, for example, with gas supply.
“I don’t think that the policy of [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, with its high number of civilian casualties, can be compared to the situation in Ukraine. It’s an entirely other conflict. I don’t think that the Russians despise the Ukrainians or want to commit genocide. It’s a conflict that was created artificially and has to do with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s plans. He didn’t want to have NATO at his house’s front door. I think one could have found a solution to that.
“The photos from Gaza have a bigger emotional influence on people than the photos from Ukraine. In Ukraine, a school was bombarded, and it created a huge outcry. Israel has bombarded, as far as I know, at least 17 schools. I don’t think that one can accuse Putin of anything comparable to what Netanyahu is doing in Gaza.”
According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 11,520 civilians were killed in Ukraine from the beginning of the Russian invasion till July 31 this year. The Ukrainian estimations of civilian casualties are higher. The number of killed Ukrainian soldiers, many of whom were forced to draft for service, is so far roughly estimated at around 100,000. The data on casualties from Gaza are based on information from the Hamas Health Ministry and do differentiate between civilians and terrorists. According to the Ukrainian Education Ministry, some 400 schools have been destroyed across the country during the war.
“One can ask why we didn’t call our party ‘Peace’ or ‘Neutrality,’” the Austrian lawyer admitted. “I say it frankly: ‘Gaza’ is an emotive word. Gaza became a symbol. Youth all over the world see Gaza as a symbol that reminds them of Vietnam. During the Vietnam War, pop songs were written against it. It’s the same now with Gaza with protest songs. It wasn’t my idea to call the party Gaza, but once I heard it, I immediately liked it. It’s a bit provocative.
“I do understand the feelings of certain Jews that have relatives in Israel and fear that there will be an outbreak of chaos there. However, most Jews do not live in Israel and feel no connection to it. It’s Netanyahu’s policy that has led to a huge catastrophe.”
Listening to Wagner’s descriptions of the war in Gaza, one could almost forget that the war was initiated by Hamas and the many civilians of Gaza who participated in the atrocities of October 7.
“In Austria, one can’t forget it, because every reporting about the war begins with the mandatory sentence ‘following the Hamas attack,’” Wagner said. “It’s repeated like a mantra. I think this fact is irrelevant. Naturally, it was the trigger of the war. But I see October 7 in a context. It’s known that Gaza was under blockade. People who lived in Gaza told me that the situation there was unbearable. Surely, it was not only the responsibility of Israel. Egypt also had its part of the responsibility.
“I am a criminal defense attorney, so I know each criminal act has a history behind it. No one is born a monster. Something has happened that led to the criminal act, and so is it with the Palestinians in Gaza. They are normal people who want peace, too, so they can have families, study, work, and simply live their lives. There are reasons why many among them want, from childhood on, to become resistance warriors.
“I am not a Hamas expert, and frankly Hamas doesn’t interest me at all,” Wagner defended herself. “Therefore, I don’t see any reason to distance myself from it, as I have no connection to it. I don’t have to distance myself from Adolf Hitler or Pol Pot, either.
“It is, however, clear that among the Gaza population, there was a radicalization. One has to condemn it if it causes the death or kidnapping of innocent people. I don’t think that it all began on October 7, but much earlier, with the Nakba. That doesn’t mean that injustice should be made again, and Israel should be abolished. People live there. One should look for a better future and not back to history.
“I don’t think that the Germans were Nazis in their nature,” she said by way of example. “But they went through cruel times; people looked for scapegoats and found them in the Jews, the Roma, and others.
“Discrimination, injustice, and suffering all lead to radicalization in Gaza, too. One can try to exterminate or expel them all, but it will be difficult. The Europeans don’t want the Gazans. Why should we accept highly traumatized people from Gaza? We already have refugees from Syria, Iraq, and Chechnya. The Chechens are heavily traumatized and very violent. All that has its reasons. It’s not that they are so because of their race.
“Our party wants a change of political orientation to a peace policy so that there will finally be peace. I don’t want the Palestinians to be so radicalized that Jews will have to flee again, this time from Israel. But if the situation goes on as it is, everything is possible.”
Wagner has never visited Israel or Gaza.
“I don’t think that it’s necessary,” she said. “If you want to understand the situation, you really have to live there for some time. I lived in France, went to school there, and learned the French spirit.
“I don’t think that Israel is the core of the problem in the Middle East, had there not been the occupied territories. There are indeed many Arabs in Israel who feel disadvantaged because of the Jewish priorities laws, but it’s not South Africa with the apartheid. The core problem is the occupied territories and Gaza.
“I was invited several times in the past to visit Israel. I hear that it is a very beautiful country. Tel Aviv is very European. The food is great. But now I am probably listed, and they will not let me in.” •