FPÖ member Gottfried Waldhäusl (Wikimedia Commons) The far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) recently proposed a plan that would require Jews to add their name to a government registry in order to be allowed to purchase kosher meat. The same rules would apply to Muslims who intend to purchase halal meat. The legislation attempts to use language revolving around animal cruelty to ban Shechita. Shechita, the slaughtering of animals according to kashrut (Jewish dietary laws), requires that the animals not be stunned prior to slaughter. The same rules largely apply to Muslim halal slaughter. Jewish groups were quick to point out the obvious connections between registries containing Jewish names and Nazi oppression and Holocaust imagery. The Berlin-based American Jewish Committee asked in response if Jews would soon be living in Austria “with a star on the chest,” in reference to the yellow stars Jews were forced to wear in countries occupied by Nazi Germany. Oskar Deutsch, the president of the Jewish Community in Vienna, drew similar comparisons when he referred to the registry as the equivalent of an “Aryan clause.” The plan was initiated by FPÖ members of the Austrian government, such as Gottfried Waldhäusl,,the cabinet minister in the state government of Lower Austria in charge of animal welfare. Waldhäusl stated that the plan is necessary from “an animal welfare point of view.” Waldhäusl stated on social media that the Jews’ worries were “exaggerated.” Waldhäusl is a member of FPÖ, which was created by former Nazi SS soldiers in the 1950s. The party has endured numerous accusations of anti-Semitism since bursting onto the Austrian political scene, including praising Hitler, honoring former Nazi soldiers, and use of anti-Semitic terminology such as untermenschen (“sub-humans”). The backlash following the proposed legislation has led to immediate assurances from Austrian politicians, such as the Austrian Ambassador to Israel Martin Weiss, to “allay all fears” coming from the Jewish and Muslim communities. Lower Austria Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner, of the center-right People’s Party, gave assurances that she would stop all efforts to limit the availability of kosher meat. While it seems unlikely that the measure will pass in Austria, the move to pass legislation which will limit ritual slaughter in Europe is on the rise. Recently, Poland attempted to pass its own ban on ritual slaughter, Belgium is set to implement their ban in 2019, and Denmark and Sweden have already banned any slaughter that does not involve “pre-cut stunning.” The rise of nationalist parties in Europe, such as the FPÖ in Austria, along with the new legislation tied to these parties, is just one of many signs that the fight against anti-Semitism in Europe must continue.