The Israeli president was received with military honors in the courtyard on Tuesday morning by Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen. Yitzhak Herzog was accompanied by his wife Michal Herzog to the official visit to Vienna.
Constitutional Minister Karoline Edtstadler (ÖVP), Justice Minister Alma Zadić (Greens) and Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) are also present at the delegation talks between the two heads of state.
The visit is also expected to highlight Israel’s domestic political turmoil. Mass demonstrations against the ultra-right government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been taking place for months over planned judicial reforms. Critics see the separation of powers in jeopardy.
Israel’s Supreme Court will hear appeals against the controversial judicial reform on September 12. If the court rejects the law and the government does not accept it, Israel could face a national crisis.
Friendship is stronger than ever
Bilateral relations between Austria and Israel are also likely to be discussed during Herzog’s visit to Vienna. “The Israeli-Austrian friendship is stronger than ever,” Israeli ambassador Mordechai Rodgold stressed in May on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of Israel’s independence. Since July 2022, the two countries have also been linked by a strategic partnership, which is mainly intended to intensify cooperation in the fields of science, business and youth exchange.
Significant increase in the number of Israeli-Austrian dual citizens
The number of Israeli-Austrian dual nationals has also increased significantly over the past four years, following a 2019 change in law allowing direct descendants of Nazi victims to acquire Austrian citizenship.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, more than 23,000 Nazi victims and their descendants have been granted Austrian citizenship so far. More than half of the new citizens are younger than 35 years.
The Wall of Names in Vienna-Alsergrund commemorates the 65,000 Jewish Austrians who could not flee from death after 1938. They starved to death in foreign ghettos, were shot or killed in extermination camps. Their names were immortalized on 180 granite slabs in Ostarrichi Park.
Source: Krone
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