Austrian far-right politician to resign over anti-Semitic comments controversy

A senior Austrian federal government representative from the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) is being forced to resign by her party in the wake of a controversy over anti-Semitic remarks made on Facebook.

On the weekend a person made a comment referring to "Zionist money" and "Jews worldwide" as being financiers of the present migrant crisis on Susanne Winter's Facebook page, to which the 58-year-old politician replied "you took the words right out of my mouth," and "there is a lot I am not allowed to write."

She later tried to minimize the comments and claimed they had instead been made to reflect the opinions of Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban, though other political parties as well as the Austrian media and the Austrian Jewish community were quick to condemn the comments.

The FPOe leadership met with Winter on Monday to demand her resignation as a member of the federal cabinet and said she had also shut herself out of the party itself. The resignation is expected to take place by Monday evening.

FPOe Secretary General Herbert Kickl said the party determined the comments had indeed been her own, and that a "red line had been crossed" by Winter, and also that the FPOe is "no place for anti-Semitism," Austria Press Agency reported.

He added that the decision to demand her resignation had been reached by FPOe leader Heinz-Christian Strache and state representatives for the party.

President of the National Council Doris Bures had Monday also notified the Department of Public Prosecution to investigate whether any criminal charges could be involved in the case. Endit