The head of Austria's Jews accused a part of the government of trying to "liquidate" the Jewish community, as a row over alleged anti-Semitism took a new twist Tuesday.
"A part of the government apparently wants to liquidate the Jewish community," Ariel Muzicant told state TV Monday evening, accusing authorities of seeking "to confine the Jewish community solely in museums."
Muzicant was reacting to conservative Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel's refusal to pay extra compensation to Jews beyond that already agreed for Nazi-era slave laborers and Jews who had property seized by the Nazis.
Schuessel, who formed a controversial coalition with the far-right Freedom Party in February 2000, refused Sunday to accept linking the already signed compensation accords with demands for extra money.
"I do not accept this link," said Schuessel, saying that Muzicant was seeking "several hundreds thousand schillings" extra.
Austria's Jewish community has some 600 million schillings (43.7 million euros) in debts. According to Muzicant, the Austrian state only gave compensation for 3 percent of Jewish property destroyed by Nazis after Austria was annexed into Hitler's Third Reich in 1938.
The new row comes after far-right strongman Joerg Haider was last week openly accused of anti-Semitism over remarks about Muzicant at a political rally.
Muzicant has vowed to sue Haider for defamation over his jibe that the Jewish leader has "dirty hands," a comment which was widely criticized as anti-Semitic.
Before World War II Austria's Jewish community numbered some 200,000, but now stands at about 8,000. Before 1938 there were 55 synagogues, dozens of Jewish schools, social groups and some 700 associations and foundations.
Austria has agreed, in accords struck last October and then in January, to pay 436 million euros in compensation for Nazi forced labor policies, and 480 million dollars for property taken from Jews.
The latest disputes come amid rising political temperatures ahead of local elections in Vienna on March 25, in which the far-right has made concerns about foreigners a key theme -- VIENNA (AFP)
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