During his visit to Hungary, Eli Cohen also participated in the unveiling of the statue of Árpád Weisz, a Hungarian-born soccer player who coached Inter Milan and later Bologna before perishing in the Holocaust. The bronze statue was unveiled by Eli Cohen and Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, together with Sándor Csányi, the head of the Hungarian Football Association (MLSZ), and Giuseppe Saputo, the chairman of the Bologna football club.

During his joint press conference with his Israeli counterpart, Eli Cohen, Péter Szijjártó said the cooperation between the two countries has always been characterized by mutual respect. Hungary has always supported the right of the Jewish state to self-defence and to guaranteeing its security, the minister nailed down.

The Hungary Helps Programme, however, does not only help persecuted Christians, but provides effective support in crisis areas and areas that are hit by man-made or natural disasters as well. Since the outbreak of the Ukraine war, Hungary has provided 130 billion forints (335.6 million euros) in aid to the victims of the war in Ukraine. Hungary also sent ten tons of relief supplies to Turkey immediately after the deadly earthquakes on 6 February and 50 million forints (132,000 euros) to Syria.

As regards so-called ‘globalization’, it is becoming evident that—due to technological and supply chains complexities—it is reaching its natural limits. We should, therefore, pay more attention to the rationality of domestic policies.

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.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield claimed a Holocaust memorial was vandalised in Hungary, when in fact the incident took place in Sweden. No public apology was issued on her behalf, which the Hungarian Foreign Ministry calls ‘outrageous’.

‘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.’

‘I have been asked several times by foreigners whether there is systemic anti-Semitism in Hungary. My answer was clearly no. In fact, as a Hungarian Jew, I feel much safer here than in other parts of the world.’

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’. 

The Hungarian government has condemned the Russian aggression against Ukraine in no uncertain terms but has also been a consistent advocate of an immediate ceasefire and peace talks, offering several times to be a mediator in the conflict.

There is growing concern that the overuse of the term ‘genocide’ may devalue it. Clearly defining what genocide means is crucial to prevent it from being used as a validation of every kind of victimhood.

The war is now two months old, and notwithstanding continual efforts by the  UN Security Council to stop the fighting, such collective security efforts have achieved very little if nothing at all.

To sum up, there are the so-called ideological ‘leftists’ who are in power in much of Europe, including Berlin and Paris, and there are the pragmatic ‘rightists who are in power in the Visegrád Group countries, especially in Budapest and Warsaw, but, for the time being, they are in opposition to most of Europe.