The mayor of a town in Austria said he thinks that journalists “should be hanged” because “they are like the Jews.”
The Jerusalem Post reported that the Karl Simlinger, mayor of Gföhl, got so irritated during a discussion about asylum seekers at a city council meeting, that he lashed out on journalists who were reporting on the asylum seekers.
“I don’t give a shit about asylum seekers, but the journalists are to be blamed. They should be hanged; they are like the Jews,” he reportedly said.
The story originally ran in the Austrian news outlet Heute.at, and the comments were confirmed by two city council members: Günter Steindl and Sabine Mai.
Steindl reportedly checked Simlinger, asking him: “Do you know what you just said?” Simlinger responded that he did.
Simlinger insisted to Haute.at that he had been misquoted: “I never said the word Jews. I only quoted from Duden. Mr. Steindl should be careful because that goes in the direction of defamation.”
“The asylum discussion took a toll on me,” he said.
City council representatives Günter Steindl and Sabine Mai confirmed Simlinger’s statements to the news outlet Heute.at.
Heute.at reported that Steindl documented Simlinger’s statements in a contemporaneous log during the city council meeting. He asked Simlinger, “Do you know what you just said?” Simlinger responded in the affirmative.
Simlinger told Heute.at that “the asylum discussion took a toll on me.”
According to the Jerusalem Post and Wikipedia, the Duden is a German language dictionary.
UPDATE: Simlinger has resigned, the International Business Times UK reported, saying that the comment “grossly contravenes my convictions and my personal views.”