Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban pledged Tuesday to combat anti-Semitism in his country, during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Budapest.
Orban said that the security of the local Jewish community "will be fully guaranteed by the Hungarian state.” The prime minister’s remarks came on the heels of a wave of incidents that have left the Hungarian Jewish community feeling threatened by anti-Semitism – including Orban’s recent praise for Admiral Miklos Horthy, the country's Nazi-collaborating WWII-era leader, and a poster campaign targeting Jewish businessman George Soros, that drew anti-Semitic sentiments across the country.
Orban had previous called Horthy, who enacted strict anti-Jewish laws and deported thousands to their deaths, an “exceptional statesman.” The Federation of Jewish Communities in Hungary (MAZSIHISZ ) strongly condemned Orban’s statement, as did World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder, who said: “The horrors that Admiral Horthy inflicted on the Jewish community of Hungary by stripping them of their rights and their humanity, and his role in the deportation and murder of hundreds of thousands of Jews, can never be excused.”
Orban said in his press conference with his Israeli counterpart on Tuesday: "I’ve also made it very clear to the Prime Minister that the Hungarian government has a zero-tolerance policy against all forms of anti-Semitism,” addinf that Jewish life in Hungary was in the midst of a renaissance.
"We also touched upon history,” he continued. "Well, when you have a meeting of this sort, this is something that is not just inevitable, but it’s also perhaps desirable, to discuss history. I told the Prime Minister that we are aware of the fact that we have quite a difficult chapter of history behind us. And I wanted to make it very clear to him that the Government of Hungary, in a previous period, committed a mistake, even committed a sin, when it did not protect the Jewish citizens of Hungary.”
"During World War II, this was something, a requirement that Hungary did not live up to, both morally or in other ways. And this is a sin, because we decided back then, instead of protecting the Jewish community, to collaborate with the Nazis.”
Last week, the president of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Hungary (MAZSIHISZ), András Heisler, asked Orbán on Wednesday to take immediate measures to halt a government-run campaign targeting Soros, citing its dangerous anti-Semitic undertones.
The campaign had been a center of focus on television, radio, online and print media, and has seen thousands of anti-Soros posters spread across the country. The campaign led various anti-Semitic incidents including anti-Jewish scripts on posters, and vandalism of Holocaust memorials.
The government subsequently said that the posters would be removed by July 15, ahead of Netanyahu’s visit.