JERUSALEM -- Israel recalled its ambassador from Austria Friday and vowed to reassess relations with Vienna, saying that as the homeland of Holocaust survivors it could not tolerate Austria's new coalition that includes a far-right party.
The Foreign Ministry issued a statement minutes after the swearing in of a government that includes the far-right Freedom Party of Joerg Haider, who caused an international outcry over past remarks belittling the crimes of the Nazis."We, as the homeland of the survivors of the Holocaust, will not tolerate that regime in Austria," Cabinet minister Haim Ramon told reporters in Tel Aviv.
"We are calling all the free world, all the democracies, to isolate this neo-fascist government," he added.
In his remarks--for which he later apologized--Haider applauded Adolf Hitler's employment policies and praised former members of the Waffen SS as "decent people of good character."
The Nazis exterminated 6 million Jews during World War II.
A statement from the Israeli Foreign Ministry said it instructed its ambassador in Vienna, Nathan Meron, to return to Jerusalem.
"As stated in the past, Israel will reassess its relations with Austria," the statement said.
"Israel cannot remain silent in the face of the rise of extremist right-wing parties, in particular in those countries which played a role in the events which brought about the eradication of a third of the Jewish people in the Holocaust.
"This is especially true when parties such as the one led by Joerg Haider become partners in government," it said.
Haider will not be in the new Cabinet. But his party will have six ministers, including the vice chancellorship and the finance, defense, justice and social affairs portfolios.
Ramon said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak had spoken to European heads of state and urged them to isolate Austria.
Asked if Israel would also kick Austria's ambassador out of Tel Aviv, Ramon said, "We will consider all the other measures in the future, but for the moment this is what decided to do."
Israel last recalled its ambassador from Vienna during the controversy over Kurt Waldheim, the Austrian president from 1986 to 1992, who had concealed his role in Hitler's army during World War II.
The Israeli Embassy in Vienna said Meron, who is also responsible for Slovakia, had already flown home Friday in order to accompany Slovak President Rudolf Schuster on a visit to Israel but had no plans to return to his post.
On Thursday, Haider signed a document on human rights committing the new government to "a self-critical scrutiny of the National Socialist past."
The Nazi period began in Austria in 1938 when the country was incorporated into the Austrian-born Hitler's Third Reich.
On a visit to the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip, German Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping said he hoped for a reversal soon of what he called the "historic mistake" of including Haider's party in the government.
"As you know the Germans, as well as European institutions, have a very clear position. We don't understand a right or a right-radical party in a European government. I hope that this historic mistake will be corrected in a short time," he said.