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’.

A four-day humanitarian ceasefire has been agreed upon by Israel and Hamas, as confirmed by both parties and the mediator Qatar as well. The Palestinians agreed to the release of 50 Israeli hostages, mostly women and children, while Israel agreed to set free 150 Palestinian prisoners. However, PM Netanyahu of Israel insists his country is still at war.

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.’

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’.

Can Netanyahu survive as prime minister in the wake of the Hamas attack? Are Jews really safer in Israel today than in the Diaspora? Hard questions that need to be asked.

Within just a few days, the Commission has gone from announcing a complete suspension of aid to the Palestinians to tripling humanitarian aid to them. No wonder a special summit was soon needed to coordinate EU communication on the conflict in Israel.

The outcome of the Israel-Hamas war is unpredictable, the US support of Israel is two-faced, and the occupation of Gaza would be an enormous military burden very hard to disengage from, Christopher J. Farrell, Director for Investigations and Research at Judicial Watch and a former US Army counterintelligence officer argues.

On 7 October, the terrorist group Hamas commenced the largest and bloodiest attack against Israel since the Yom Kippur War. In many ways, the aggression echoes not only the 1973 war, but also the al-Qaeda terrorist attacks on the US as well.

‘Israel does recognize who were the true friends and Hungary has proved for a long period of time under Viktor Orbán’s leadership that—despite the pressure from larger and possibly more powerful European countries—it can stand alone at times and will not conform with this general line that of “both sides are to blame, both sides are wrong, and let them find the solution”. Hungary understands without any doubt who the murderers are and who the victims are.’

‘All things being equal, the roots to the actual deadly conflict are profound, as already mentioned. Yet it does not help the cause of peace to keep doing business with Iran, just as the United States has done under the Obama administration and is still doing under the present one.’

‘These recent bloody events—and the videos of Arab crowds celebrating them, not just in Gaza, but in Europe too—show perfectly what a significant part of the Muslim Arab world thinks about the issue. The problem is not that Israel is ‘running the world’s largest concentration camp’ in Gaza (a distasteful and debatable claim in the first place, but let’s not go into that now). This conflict existed before the majority of people alive today were born.’

Meanwhile, PM Orbán of Hungary offered his moral support for Israel, writing ‘our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Israel in these dark hours’.

At the recent Peace of Westphalia conference in Münster, the Hungarian foreign minister said the Abraham Accords should serve as an example for resolving other similar conflicts around the world, adding that ‘even though the Middle East seems to be far away in a geographical sense, we all know that whatever happens in the Middle East, it has a direct influence on Europe.’

The Hungarian Jewish leaders and the Israeli Prime Minister discussed issues of Jewish communal life in Hungary and the events that may accompany the possible relocation of the Hungarian embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.  With the potential move of the Hungarian mission to Jerusalem Hungary would become the first EU country to recognize that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital.

OSF pulling out of the continent is good news for sovereigntist governments, but it may be too early to rejoice.

The best example of how pointless it is to interfere in these debates from abroad is the obvious difference between the Hungarian and Israeli legal systems, as Hungary has a written constitution, while Israel has no constitution at all, the minister pointed out.

According to a recent ADL survey, anti-Semitic incidents surged to historic levels in 2022 in the United States, with a total of 3,697 hate-related incidents reported across the country, which is a 36 per cent increase from 2021 and the highest level ever recorded in the group’s history since it began keeping records in 1979. Amidst a record high level of anti-Semitism, at this year’s Celebration of Israel Parade in New York City the importance of showing unity and support for Israel was highlighted.

‘We condemn all forms of terrorism in the strongest possible terms, we recognise Israel’s right to self-defence and we express our sincere sympathy to the government and people of Israel in the face of this new grave threat,’ the MFAT statement said in reaction to the recent terrorist attacks on Israel.

Today, confirmed anti-Semites may be the ‘great friends of the Jews’, but members and sympathisers of the government that proclaims ‘zero tolerance’ regarding anti-Semitism at all international and domestic fora, and which unequivocally stands by and up for Israel, can be labelled as the ‘new anti-Semites’. Israelis cannot invoke the Holocaust as an argument of her legitimacy and a historical event of her people, because the ‘new Jews’ are Palestinians and migrants. Now ‘Nazi’ apparently denotes a right-wing Jew in some circles, while Nazis seem to be the ‘guests of honour’ at seder tables.

Netanyahu must not retreat any further, as abandoning his right-wing agenda would threaten the stability of the coalition. Judicial reform in Israel is in fact the last salvation of Israeli democracy, of the rule of the people. Kim Lane Scheppele probably understands this very well—hence her recent attacks on Israel.

An Israeli expert, who requested anonymity, told Hungarian Conservative that there is no doubt
foreign NGOs involved in the protests are funded not only by private individuals but by European governments, such as Germany, too. But it is impossible to prove that the financing coming from foreign governments is used specifically to support the anti-government protests.

While Europe desperately needs new partners to wean itself off Russian gas, by becoming an energy exporter, Israel could reduce its isolation and thaw its icy relations with the EU—something that is even more valuable than export revenues for Jerusalem.

The step would make Hungary the first EU country to move its embassy to Jerusalem, which may set a precedent and other EU countries could follow suit, in the face of disapproval by Brussels.

‘For their political opponents conservative governments are most dangerous when they are successful,’ warns Balázs Orbán, Political Director to the Prime Minister of Hungary. Thus, he adds, the Netanyahu cabinet must be ready for constant attacks by the mainstream media.

Since the beginning of the war, the Israeli government has consistently resisted pressure both the United States and Ukraine to supply arms to the beleaguered country, facing criticism as a consequence at home and abroad.

Naftali Bennett made shocking claims about his derailed mediation efforts in the Ukraine conflict in a five-hour interview, uploaded to his own YouTube channel.

‘The Hungarian population strongly supports the State of Israel, an unambiguously national-religious state like Hungary, which believes in innovation, a strong military and the ability to jointly maintain the existing international structure.’

Ideologies offer a simplified, one-dimensional view of the world. In reality, international relations are determined by a multitude of complex factors, and are often based on pragmatic considerations.

As one of the thirty member states that voted against the proposal, Hungary made it clear that the 75th Independence Day of the Jewish State should be celebrated and not mourned as a ‘disaster’.