On Wednesday evening news broke that Israel and Hamas had reached a ceasefire deal. While the information was confirmed by US and Hamas officials, Benjamin Netanyahu clarified that the final agreement would be finalized overnight, while US President-elect Donald Trump pledged that Gaza would ‘never again become a terrorist haven.’
This little known case of Hungarian Israeli Rabbi Ottó Komlós not only provides insight into how the Hungarian Communist intelligence services viewed Israel’s most important Holocaust museum and its Hungarian employee, but also highlights the clumsiness of the covert activities of Kádár’s state security services in the early 1960s in Israel.
The first guest of the new edition of the Danube Info podcast was Or Yissachar, a national security researcher and team lead in the Israeli high-tech industry, leading the Israel Defence and Security Forum’s Content Division and Research Department.
In the 1960s, the Communist Secret Service launched an undercover operation targeting rabbis and Jewish youth who were engaging in Zionist activities. The investigation ended in some young people being handed suspended prison sentences and a 15-year ban on rabbinic activity for Szeged Rabbi Tamás Raj.
The Druze, a group historically loyal to the Assad regime in Syria, are facing growing threats due to the collapse of the central government and the deteriorating security situation. The Druze religious leadership in Israel is also very concerned about the fate of the Druze across the border, because jihadists in many Druze communities, mainly in Damascus and northern Syria, have already started demanding that the Druze hand over their weapons.
A recent AFP articles titled ‘Orban’s soft power shines as Hungary hosts Israeli match’ apparently praised the Hungarian leadership for welcoming many Israeli football teams in the midst of the ongoing Hamas–Israel war. However, as expected, the piece also insinuates that the Hungarian government at times ‘veers into’ antisemitism, citing as an example the anti-Soros billboard campaign of 2017.
‘Last year, Pope Francis met separately with relatives of Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinians living through the war. His use of terminology such as “terrorism”, and, according to the Palestinians, “genocide”, set off a firestorm. In any case, the Pontiff now says in his book: “According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide. It should be carefully investigated to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies.”’
‘The ceasefire is a development that aligns with the Trump administration’s anticipated foreign policy approach, which is expected to support Israel’s military objectives while facilitating diplomatic resolutions to regional conflicts. The ceasefire may also pave the way for expanding the Abraham Accords, with potential new agreements involving countries like Saudi Arabia.’
A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect early Wednesday morning after 14 months of intense conflict. Under the agreement, Israeli forces will gradually withdraw from southern Lebanon over the next 60 days as Lebanese troops move in to secure the region.
On 28 October, despite international opposition, Israeli lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to approve two bills that essentially ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East from operating in Israel and severely restrict its activities in Gaza and the West Bank, due to certain staff members’ direct ties to Hamas and other terrorist groups.
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.
