VZCZCXRO1162
RR RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHVI #0070 0210737
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 210737Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1877
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 0807

UNCLAS VIENNA 000070 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM AU
SUBJECT: Austrian Muslim and Jewish Responses to Israeli Military 
Action in Gaza 
 
¶1.  The Israeli military action in Gaza has triggered a controversy 
between the Austrian Jewish and Islamic communities due to their 
support for Israel and the Palestinians, respectively.  In recent 
weeks, the Jewish Community (IKG) publicly lobbied for support of 
the Israeli military action, while the Islamic Community (IGGiOe) 
condemned the operation. 
 
¶2.  Both sides were engaged in staging demonstrations supporting or 
condemning the Gaza military action. The pro-Palestinian 
demonstrations were somewhat more radical in tone and were generally 
larger.  The demonstrations were peaceful, and there have been no 
reports of the political conflict escalating into anti-Jewish or 
anti-Muslim violence as a result of the Gaza military operation. 
 
¶3. The controversy peaked following a January 9 sermon by Imam Adnan 
Ibrahim in a main Vienna mosque in which the Imam reportedly called 
Israel "the real beast" and "criminal."  "Hamas," on the other hand, 
"is defending us all," noted Adnan Ibrahim according to media 
reports. 
 
¶4. Omar Al-Rawi, integration spokesman of the Islamic Community 
(IGGiOe), attributed Ibrahim's comments to the Imam's personal Gaza 
background, and the fact that he lost three relatives in the Gaza 
conflict.  Moreover, noted Al-Rawi, expressions from Ibrahim's 
speech in Arabic may sound more emotional when translated.  Jewish 
Community (IKG) President Ariel Muzicant demanded the imam's 
suspension from office, arguing that, "if a rabbi talked like that 
in a house of the Jewish community, he would lose his job within a 
second." 
 
¶5.  While the Muslim Green MP Alev Korun called up the IGGiOe to 
distance itself from Ibrahim, the IGGiOe tried to calm down the 
waves with a January 17 press release in which it expressed 
"solidarity with the suffering Gaza population," but emphasized that 
the Gaza conflict should not be imported into Austria, and should 
not affect the relations between IKG and IGGiOe. The Gaza conflict 
was "not a religious conflict", noted the IGGiOe. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶6.  The controversy harms the traditionally smooth relations between 
the IKG and the IGGiOe who have been engaged in a longstanding 
interreligious dialogue and cooperated well in areas of mutual 
interest, such as countering racism and promoting tolerance in 
Austria.  With its January 17 statement, the IGGiOe seemingly 
attempts to invoke that spirit, appealing to the IKG to "agree that 
we do not agree," but to not import the conflict into Austria. 
GIRARD-DICARLO