Hungary's new ambassador to Rome - who once called Jews "agents of Satan-- stepped down on Friday amid mounting protests over his appointment.
"Peter Szentmihalyi Szabo informed the Foreign Affairs Ministry he doesn't wish to be ambassador," the ministry said in a statement. The nomination of the 69-year-old writer and commentator with links to the far-right media had raised eyebrows in Hungary, with newspapers extensively quoting his most controversial work.
He called Jews "agents of Satan" in an article in 2000 for the far-right publication Magyar Forum, and has written a poem in praise of Magyar Garda, the now disbanded paramilitary wing of Hungary's far-right party, Jobbik.
The World Jewish Congress (WJC) issued a statement on Thursday urging Italy to refuse Szentmihalyi Szabo's accreditation. WJC President Ronald Lauder said that his appointment was "clearly an affront to Jews". He said: "A man who suggests that Hungary's Jews are 'agents of Satan', 'greedy, envious, evil and ugly' is not fit to represent his country abroad."
Szentmihalyi Szabo's nomination came as a surprise to many as he had little diplomatic experience, other than serving for a year as foreign ministry spokesman in the 1990s. Nor, according to Hungarian media reports, does he speak Italian.