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Post by Admin on Oct 18, 2017 18:12:53 GMT
In early October, Austrian magazine Profil reported that two fake Facebook pages were set up by an Israeli national, Tal Silberstein, who was working as a campaign advisor to Kern. Screenshots from the first page “The Truth about Sebastian Kurz,” in this post from Buzzfeed, mock Kurz and the page includes anti-immigrant content and, in a known anti-Semitic trope, suggests that Kurz is allied with Hungarian-born US billionaire George Soros, who supports liberal causes. The second page, “We for Sebastian Kurz,” pretended to be a fan page and included posts about Austria’s contentious refugee policy. The Social Democrats stopped working with Silberstein in August, after he was accused of money laundering in Israel. The party claims it had no knowledge of the subversive pages, and Silberstein confirmed this to Israeli media. How important was Facebook’s role? It’s unclear whether the fake pages affected the vote. Kurz was expected to win the election all along, but as several foreign news outlets noted, the scandal offered a boost to the populist, far right Freedom Party, which is running neck and neck with the Social Democrats in the final vote tally. Kurz is said to be likely to choose the Freedom Party, led by a former Neo-Nazi, instead of the Social Democrats for his ruling coalition. An Austrian pollster told Reuters before the election that the Facebook-related mudslinging was likely to boost turnout, which turned out to be nearly 80% of eligible voters. Final election results are expected this week.
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Post by Admin on Oct 21, 2017 19:02:40 GMT
Austria's president on Friday tasked election-winner Sebastian Kurz with forming a government, putting the 31-year-old conservative on course to become the world's youngest leader. Kurz, nicknamed "wunderwuzzi" ("whizz-kid"), is now expected to enter coalition talks with the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ), potentially giving the European Union a fresh headache. Kurz's People's Party (ÖVP) came first in Sunday's election with 31.5 percent followed by the centre-left Social Democrats on 26.9 percent, final results showed late on Thursday. The populist Freedom Party, highly critical of the EU, came a close third with 26.0 percent, just short of its 1999 record under former chief Jörg Haider of 26.9 percent.
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Post by Admin on Oct 24, 2017 18:47:20 GMT
‘’Sebastian Kurz is one of the most articulate, dynamic and forward-looking diplomats in Europe today, and he is a good friend of Israel and the Jewish people.’’ This comment was made last June by David Harris, CEO of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) as Kurz was invited to the AJC Global Forum, the organization’s top annual event. Kurz is leader of the Conservative Austrian People’s Party (OVP) which won Sunday’s parliament elections. His party finished first with 30.5 percent and the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ), headed by Heinz-Christian Strache, placed second with 26.8 percent, with the Social Democrats (SPÖ) of outgoing chancellor Christian Kern just behind them on 26.2 percent. The result would clear the way for a right-leaning coalition and vault 31-year-old Kurz into the office of Chancellor which would make him Europe’s youngest head of government. As Foreign Minister, Sebastian Kurz visited Israel in May 2006 to mark 60 years of diplomatic relations between Austria and Israel. During his visit, he met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. An agreement on the “Working Holiday Programme” between Austria and Israel as well as an agreement on enhanced cultural cooperation were signed. The “Working Holiday Programme“ enables young people to spend up to six months working in another country during their holidays.
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