BUDAPEST - The president of the Federation of the Hungarian Jewish Communities (MAZSIHISZ) welcomed Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a reception at the storied Dohany Synagogue on Wednesday, calling it a “historic event” to host the premiers of these two countries at the same time and urging both to work toward ensuring respect for the local Jewish community.
Addressing Hungarian PM Orban, MAZSIHISZ President Andras Heisler called for a “Hungarian society without hatred”, and in remarks directed at Israeli PM Netanyahu, urged “higher respect for the Diaspora.”
Heisler commended the two premiers on the excellent relations between their countries, emphasizing that the “strongest bridge” between them was the connecting role of the Hungarian Jewish community. “Our past and future connects us, as our love of Hungary and of Israel connects us,” Heisler said.
Despite these strong relations, Heisler said, “there are phenomena disturbing the life of our community” that demand honest discussion. 
Hungary was ambiguous about its role in the Holocaust and the responsibility of the government and leadership of that time, with restitution still incomplete 72 years later, the MAZSIHISZ president said.
Moreover, Heisler said, in modern Hungary it is still possible to “launch a total propaganda campaign, whose language and visual tools revived in our minds the bad memories of the past,” referring to the recent government-run poster campaign targeting the Jewish businessman George Soros which conjured numerous anti-Semitic incidents across the country. “One can argue about the intent of the campaign, but it became unacceptable for me for one thing: the Jews of Hungary started to live in fear.”
“A responsible Jewish leader cannot keep silent about that,” Heisler said. “Neither can a responsible head of state.”
“We are pleased to know that the Hungarian government wants to protect us, as Hungarian citizens, but the most effective defense we see is a Hungarian society without hatred. I ask the prime minister of Hungary to help Hungary become a society where the real power is the mutual respect of each other’s values,” said the Hungarian Jewish leader.
To Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who is visiting Hungary on a 3-day official trip, Heisler raised the discontent of the local Jewish community regarding the conversion laws going into effect in Israel. “It is painful for our community when the religious recognition of the Diaspora is attempted to be narrowed in Israel,” Heisler said, pointing to the diversity of religious observances within the Hungarian community. “I ask you respectfully, to foster higher respect for the Diaspora. Only a strong Diaspora is able to help Israel, and we, as Hungarian Jews, want to help.”
While many speak of a Hungarian Jewish renaissance, Heisler said, the Hungarian community is actually struggling “horrendously – not aghainst the government, not against the migration, not against the anti-Semites, but against assimilation.
“We are convinced that it is in the basic interest of both Hungary and the State of Israel not to divide the Hungarian Jewry of the Diaspora, not to alienate it and to help our communities in order to continue living and to pass on our ancestors’ Hungarian and Jewish traditions,” he said.
