After Hamas brutally attacked Israel on 7 October, the refugee camp on the shore of Lake Balaton in Hungary was converted into a safe haven for Israeli Jews who wanted to escape with their families from the horrors of war. The camp now houses around 250 people, including 100 children, most of whom have fled from Israel since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.
Paul Kessler, a 69-year-old Jewish man attended a pro-Israel gathering in Thousand Oaks, California when a pro-Palestine group showed up. He died after a punch knocked him to the ground and hit his head. The police have already questioned a suspect, but released them, as they have received conflicting eyewitness reports about who the aggressor was.
As Kenneth M. Pollack phrased in his The Hill article, ‘a ceasefire now would only lead to more war and more killing in the future.’ Pollack added that ‘when you reward an aggressor and prevent the attacked from fighting back, you simply encourage that aggressor to attack again, and encourage other would-be aggressors to do the same.’
‘On the campaign trail, Mr. Trump made many promises to the Jewish and pro-Israel community. Promises that many politicians have made to us for decades but never had the guts to follow through on; but not Trump, he followed through. He made promises and he kept them.’
Katalin Novák met with her Israeli counterpart, President Isaac Herzog, to show her moral support to the recently attacked Israel, as well as for the Hungarian community living in Israel. She also called for the immediate release of hostages, some of whom are of Hungarian ancestry, taken by the Islamist terror group Hamas.
Moscow has failed to condemn the 7 October Hamas attack as terrorism, and Putin has likened the Gaza blockade by Israel to the siege of Leningrad by Nazi Germany, effectively poisoning the previously amicable Russia–Israel relations.
Although a defining part of Netanyahu’s image is that of ‘Mr Security’, and he has even been nicknamed ‘King Bibi’, the spectacular fiasco of a 1997 Mossad operation he had ordered also earned him the epithet ‘Israel’s serial bungler’.
Israel had to postpone their last two European Championship qualifiers last month due to the Hamas attacks. Now, as Israel is not yet safe enough to host football games for their national team, they found their temporary home at the Pancho Arena in Felcsút, Hungary. This is not the first time Hungary provides a temporary home turf for a foreign football team.
Since the stadium is located within a rural community, the impact of its external facades may be limited. However, its internal architecture, expressed through elements such as soaring roof extensions that break the monotony of the exterior shell, creates an intimate and captivating atmosphere. These glimpses into the arena’s interior offer an enticing taste of the intense battles happening on the ‘pitch.’
The recent outbreak of violence in the Middle East may soon lead to the opening of another front, where Israel would clash with Hezbollah. But what is this Lebanese Shia organization, and how did it come to be?