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.
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.
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 of the star players of the Israeli national team brought with him the boot of a kidnapped football player, which he showed reporters at the press conference in Felcsút.
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.’
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.
In the interview, President of the Republic Katalin Novák underscored Hungary’s key role in protecting the EU’s Schengen border, highlighted the Hungarian government’s unique family policy, stressed the importance of starting peace talks to end the war on Ukraine, and reiterated Hungary’s support for Israel.
The growing threat of terror in Europe is a direct consequence of the migration policy forced by Brussels, which has resulted in parallel societies in a number of Western European countries, the Hungarian foreign minister said. He also noted the sanctions against Russia, which he said resulted in ‘a continual crisis of energy security’.
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.
Viktor Orbán declared that Hungary’s energy supply is a key issue and noted that it is important for Hungary to be able to receive oil not only from Russia but also from Kazakhstan. He added that the volume of this is not significant yet, but the channels have been opened, and this is a significant step for the country’s security.
Hungary’s interests lie in peace, the Hungarian foreign minister said, adding that this was the reason why the government considered it important to take part in the work of the OTS, as the Turkic states ‘always stand by peaceful settlements and reducing the risk of escalation’.
Wizz Air has cancelled all flights to Israel until 15 November but is continuously reviewing the situation. The airline is in constant contact with Israeli, Hungarian, and international authorities, monitoring the events in Israel.
The Florida-based conservative commentator reminded all that Hamas has always had a tendency to use their own people as human shields with ‘their leaders in Doha, Qatar, living a lavish life right now’.
Foreign Minister Szijjártó said Israel has the right to take action over the brutal Hamas attack, underlining that ‘Israel does indeed have a right to self-defence.’ At the same time, the minister also noted that most countries want to avoid the escalation of the fight against terrorism into an interstate war resulting in ‘a real global security tragedy’.
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.
Israel have always had few allies in the Middle East in its fight for self-preservation. However, one small ethnoreligious group is an exception. The Druze have sided with the Jewish state ever since its inception, adhering to a ‘covenant of blood’ between Jews and the Druze.
Two pro-Hamas protests were also banned in Budapest last week. PM Viktor Orbán has vowed not to allow any ‘pro-terror demonstrations’ in Hungary.
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.’
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.
Airlines are systematically cancelling or suspending their flights to Israel since the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas launched a comprehensive attack on the Jewish state on Saturday morning, resulting in hundreds of casualties. This resulted in significant drops in the companies’ share prices.
Minister Szijjártó expressed Hungary’s deep concern over the Israel terrorist attacks and their potential consequences, which could easily lead to one of the largest humanitarian disasters in history. He believes that this tragedy occurred at the worst possible time, as the process of normalizing the situation had just begun, and significant steps had been taken towards peace, which now could be jeopardized and rendered null.
‘The first thing we can wish for Israel in the current situation is that it should regain control over the entire territory of the state of Israel and establish the security guarantees needed to prevent similar bestial attacks from happening in the future,’ Gulyás said.
‘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.’
The situation in Israel remains ‘extremely worrying’, with some areas practically in a state of war, Minister Szijjártó said, according to a statement by the Foreign Ministry. The Hungarian government’s top priority in such a case of emergency is to ensure the safety of Hungarians, he added.
‘In the Britain that is now, just like in every other Western country that has accepted indiscriminate mass immigration from countries with Islamic values, it has become normal to celebrate murder, rape, and terrorism, so long as Israeli Jews are the ones being terrorized.’
‘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’.
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.