ERETZ ISRAEL

Following election success, neo-Nazi party leader makes reporters stand at attention, vows to rid Greece of foreigners. ATHENS - Greece's extreme-right Golden Dawn party savored unprecedented success in Sunday's general election by promising to rid Greece of illegal immigrants, branding journalists "liars" and warning all "traitors" to run scared. Little more than an obscure fringe group barely a year ago, the party is set to blow past estimates and enter parliament for the first time with as much as 8 percent of the vote. That would make the group - which denies it is neo-Nazi - one of the biggest winners in an election where the main conservative and Socialist parties are taking a drubbing over their support for a bailout tied to austerity measures. Flanked by burly, men in black t-shirts, Golden Dawn leader Nikolaos Mihaloliakos marched down the street in Athens. "Greece is only the beginning," As they strode to the hotel, his supporters began chanting "Greece belongs to Greeks" and "Foreigners get out of Greece." When asked what his first action in parliament would be, Mihaloliakos said: "All the illegal immigration out! Out of my country, out of my home!" Asked how he planned to carry that out, he angrily said: "Use your imagination." As he entered the news conference, party members ordered assembled journalists to stand to attention. His party's flag - featuring an ancient Greek symbol resembling the Nazi swastika set against a red background - hung in the background. "We will continue our struggle for a free Greece, free from foreign loan sharks and a Greece that is independent and proud, without the slavery of the bailout," said Mihaloliakos, who was elected to the Athens city council in 2010. He promptly gave the Nazi salute on his first appearance there. The group - which openly displays books on Aryan supremacy at its party offices - has been frequently linked to racist attacks, but denies beating up migrants. "This victory is devoted to all the brave boys with the black T-shirts and the white letters reading Golden Dawn," Mihaloliakos said. "Those who betrayed the motherland - you should be scared now." Greek election day: Jews worry about far-right. Head of Jewish community in Athens expresses concern over expected election of neo-Nazi party to parliament. The head of the Jewish community in Athens worried on Sunday that two far-right political parties might enter the Greek parliament. In an interview with The Jerusalem Post on the day of the general election, Benjamin Albalas said his main concern was Golden Dawn, a supremacist group expected to enter the legislature for the first time. “According to the polls the prediction is, unfortunately, that [Golden Dawn] will be elected,” the Jewish leader said over the phone from Athens. “This is an insult not just to Jewish people but to the country as a whole. Golden Dawn is not only Right or extreme Right but a neo-Nazi party. It’s a shame to permit this bunch of people to become members of parliament.” Golden Dawn’s is a nationalist party hostile to ethnic minorities. Its charter excludes “non-Aryans” from becoming members. Recent polls indicated the group – whose official emblem is similar to the Nazi swastika – might win 5 percent of the vote. In 2000, for instance, Karatzaferis told the public to vote for his party because it did not include any Jews, communists or gay men and lesbians. Albalas said that he rejected several attempts by Karatzaferis to patch up his relationship with the Jewish community in recent years.