Austrian Lawmaker Posts Anti-Semitic Cartoon

Vienna’s Jewish community is outraged over an anti-Semitic cartoon posted on the Facebook page of the leader of Austria’s anti-immigrant Freedom Party. The cartoon, reminiscent of the Nazi era propaganda, shows a banker with a large hooked nose and Star of David cufflinks profiting from Europe’s financial crisis.

From the Associated Press:

Heinz-Christian Strache’s Facebook posting showed the corpulent banker being fed delicacies by a figure dubbed “The Government.” A third figure at the table, labeled “The People” — thin and poorly dressed — has a bone on his plate and looks on in dismay.

Jewish leader Oskar Deutsch said Monday the caricature depicts Jews in the way that Nazi publications did under Hitler.

Strache’s Freedom Party has turned from overtly anti-Semitic slogans to opposition of Muslim immigrants. But its supporters include anti-Semites.

Strache says he is not singling out Jews but is criticizing “greedy bankers” regardless of ethnicity.