According to State Secretary for Assisting Persecuted Christians and Implementing the Hungary Helps Program Tristan Azbej the purpose of the meeting was for the Hungarian government to share its knowledge and experience regarding Hungary’s policy of aiding persecuted Christians.
Early in March Israel’s Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli visited Hungary and met Hungary’s Minister for European Union Affairs János Bóka, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó, several Hungarian Jewish community leaders, while also giving presentations on the Gaza War. Jews in Hungary can practice their faith in safety in contrast to many other European nations, he noted during his visit.
According to Ambassador Yacov Hadas-Handelsman the Gaza War is not just against Israel and it is not a political strife anymore, but a cultural and religious conflict.
‘Europe should have woken up already when millions of people swarmed through its borders, and absolutely nothing was done, with the responsible agencies simply welcoming migrants and not enforcing border control,’ Israeli security expert Or Yissachar told Hungarian Conservative.
Renowned Hungarian political analysts concurred on a recent talk show that US Ambassador David Pressman is a political activist rather than a diplomat.
‘Many Jewish citizens from European nations like Sweden are enduring levels of hostility that are non-existent in Hungary. In contrast, Yacov Hadas-Handelsman, the current Israeli ambassador to Hungary, earlier this year named Hungary as one of the safest nations for Jews to live in. Furthermore, the Jewish community in Hungary is not only thriving, but also one of the largest in Europe.’
AFP is one of the three major global news agencies. Yet, in their paid photo library service, images of a major march against antisemitism that took place on 12 November in Paris, France are not available (or at least not searchable), but photos of a much smaller event happening on the same day, organized by the left-wing LFI party are. In addition, the results of search keywords related to the Israeli-Palestine conflict also give curious results.
Mosab Hassan Yousef, known as the son of Hamas’s co-founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, held a historic speech at the United Nations this week in which he stressed: ‘If Israel fails in Gaza, the rest of the world will be next’. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also highlighted in a Fox News interview that if Israel ‘doesn’t win now, then Europe is next’.
Two major British publications have alleged that the Hungarian government’s new billboard campaign promoting its national consultation, which depicts EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen along with Alex Soros, is actually antisemitic. That is despite the fact the Hungary has been one of Israel’s staunchest supporters in the Palestinian conflict, while antisemitic demonstrations are on the rise in the West.
One thing is clear: it is ethically good to reject antisemitism and terror apologetics. Such basic uprightness does not conflict with critical reflections on a heterogeneous, power-unequal world—because genuine critical thinking has never caused anyone to become an anti-Semite or a terror apologist.
There is a group of people who will demand photos of Jewish victims and then, when they get them, rejoice in the fact of the killings. Meanwhile, one cannot forget that there is obviously a benign, uninformed majority that can be persuaded by either side, and Israel must not give up the possibility of persuasion.
While in recent weeks Europe was shocked by a series of violent antisemitic protests sparked by the events in the Middle East, the ones in Dagestan, Russia stand out, as they echo the dark history of pogroms.
‘The path to peace in the Middle East is clear and straightforward, it’s about having the political will…If we can envision a world in which world powers actively check the Islamic Republic regime or even support the Iranian people in their quest for freedom to overthrow this regime and return to Iran’s ancient noble history, we could eliminate 90 per cent of the destabilization in the region. From there, we would work towards more peace deals between Israel and its Arab neighbours, building on the successful model of the Abraham Accords.’
In his regular Friday morning interview, Orbán said the situation in Israel was a stark reminder of the value of peace and stability, and that elected leaders had a duty to protect it. Hungary, he said, had always opposed terrorism irrespective of which country was being targeted.
In his regular Friday morning radio interview, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán noted that sympathy protests for terrorists are taking place throughout Europe. By contrast, he declared, Hungary will not allow such demonstrations.
Following the barbaric attacks on Israel by Hamas, pro-Palestinian rallies are being held in Western countries with sizeable Muslim communities. Western governments are now faced with the challenge posed by the tension between the right to freedom of expression and the need to disallow the promotion of murder and violence.
In a recent op-ed published on NewsMax, CASEPAC Executive Director Bryan Leib expressed his conviction that support for Israel and the Jewish people ‘starts at the top,’ reminding that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán tweeted his condemnation of the brutal attack by Hamas as soon as news of it broke. Orbán also stood up for Israel’s right to self-defence, he noted, stressing that all of this is refreshing, especially when he sees antisemitism growing in America, and thousands of Americans taking to the streets to support Hamas.
2RK, the newly established centrist political party, is headed by the former president of the once radical right-wing Jobbik, Gábor Vona.
In the Eastern Hungarian city of Debrecen, Jobbik parliamentary group leader László Lukács criticized the Orbán administration for the number of foreign workers being allowed in the country.
‘Gárdonyi was a unique personality, a distinctive Hungarian writer, in both his good qualities and his faults. He cannot be branded or put in a box. He must be seen in the light of what he created, with his insightful criticisms taken to heart, and his failures appropriately assessed.’
As reported by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), the Action and Protection Foundation, through its Brussels Institute, recorded 37 antisemitic acts in Hungary in 2021. By comparison, in France there were 589 recorded antisemitic actions and threats in the 2021. In the same year, in Germany 3027 incidents were recorded. In addition, as highlighted by FRA, when looking at 2013–2021, the overall trend in Hungary was that the number of recorded antisemitic incidents was decreasing.
At their meeting earlier this week, Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli and Hungarian State Secretary Miklós Soltész concurred that anti-Israel attitudes have evolved into a new variety of antisemitism, and they demand particular consideration on a global scale.
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.