‘This peace comes with a heavy price so far. You know, we paid the price of more than a thousand soldiers who were killed during this war. As President Trump said: “peace through strength”, so what keeps the peace is strength and deterrence—and the bad guys losing the war.’
To fight terrorism, illegal immigration, and antisemitism, we need a strong Israel, a strong United States, and a strong Hungary—this was the key message at the panel discussion of the third International Pro-Israel Summit. It was also revealed that Budapest has become Jerusalem’s number one ally in Europe.
The Center for Fundamental Rights held its third International Pro-Israel Summit in Budapest. While the first event in 2023 followed the 7 October Hamas attacks, this year’s took place a few weeks after President Trump’s Israel–Hamas peace deal. Speakers included Hungary’s Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky, Israel’s Education Minister Yoav Kisch, and Yair Netanyahu.
‘“Religious Zionism”…keeps unsettling end-of-history pieties about confining faith and observance to the margins of the public square and smoothing out the nation state’s ethno-religious edges. Yet instead of cool-headed assessments precisely when it holds the keys to governability…the rise of this national-religious bloc of parties is often met by incurious moral hysteria.’
‘Omri was freed from Hamas captivity along with 18 other living hostages on 13 October. Since then, Omri had been hospitalized at Ichilov Hospital, where he met his daughters for the first time since his return.’
‘The crisis has made Hungary’s relationship with Israel stronger than ever before.’
‘The road to peace is still long…But for now, the most important thing is that the first phase of Trump’s peace plan has proven acceptable to both parties. For 48 Israeli families, their nightmare of the past two years may finally be coming to an end.’
Israel and Hamas have accepted the first phase of Donald Trump’s peace plan, agreeing to a ceasefire, hostage releases, and Israeli troop pullback. The breakthrough, hailed by Benjamin Netanyahu as a ‘turning point’, comes just days before the Nobel Peace Prize announcement, with Trump emerging as a leading contender.
What is Israel planning to do after the Western recognition of Palestine? Will there be a point when Washington doesn’t back Israel further? Why has the Hungarian government become a pro-Israeli government? We spoke with the former Political Director of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the fragile situation of the Jewish state at the Danube Institute’s Geopolitical Summit in Budapest.
The Hungarian airline is planning to open a hub at Tel Aviv airport, but Israeli competitors may easily stand in its way. Executives of El Al have even lodged a complaint directly with Prime Minister Netanyahu against Wizz Air’s expansion.