Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday welcomed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, calling him a “true friend of Israel” despite the outcry over the visiting leader’s past remarks that have been interpreted as anti-Semitic.
Orban and Netanyahu held a joint news conference in Jerusalem following the Hungarian premier’s arrival in Israel the day before.
Netanyahu has a new BFF: Hungary’s far-right populist President Viktor Orban. They have a lot in commonhttps://t.co/RyMjPY5An0 pic.twitter.com/GzBPgyemza
— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) July 19, 2018
The four-time Hungarian prime minister drew criticism last year for praising Miklos Horthy – Hungary’s World War II-era ruler who introduced anti-Semitic laws and collaborated with the Nazis – and employing tropes that were anti-Semitic in tone against billionaire philanthropist George Soros during his re-election campaign.
Orban evoked anti-Semitic language in denouncing Soros, saying that Hungary’s enemies “do not believe in work, but speculate with money; they have no homeland, but feel that the whole world is theirs.”
Greeted by PM Benjamin @netanyahu as „a good friend,” Hungary’s PM Viktor Orbán is in #Jerusalem for a 2-day visit. Orbán has been criticized by some in ?? & ?? for his right-wing party’s WW2 narrative & anti-immigration policy labeled „anti-Soros.”https://t.co/Q8o8Au6JR0
— AJC Central Europe (@AJC_CE) July 20, 2018
Despite global Jewish condemnation of those remarks, Netanyahu praised Orban for combating anti-Semitism and thanked him for Hungary’s pro-Israel stance.
Netanyahu said the two leaders shared an understanding “that the threat of radical Islam is a real one. It could endanger Europe. It could endanger the world. It certainly endangers us and our Arab neighbors.”
Netanyahu has been helping Hungary's controversial nationalist prime minister Viktor Orban improve relations with the Trump White Househttps://t.co/yQO3mLMOHt
— Axios World (@AxiosWorld) July 17, 2018
Orban has cast himself as a champion of a Christian Europe and adopted an aggressive stance to halt the flow of African and Muslim migrants through Hungary.
Netanyahu visited Hungary last year – the first visit by an Israeli premier since the 1980s – and was warmly received by Orban.
An unlikely union: Israel and the European far right https://t.co/sduWDbIAIF — #AJOpinion by @RamzyBaroud & @RomanaRubeo pic.twitter.com/lCwo41Bl98
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) July 18, 2018
During the trip, Orban said the European Union’s ties with Israel were “not rational enough,” criticizing its stipulation that closer ties would follow resolving the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
Amnesty International in Israel organized a protest against Orban’s visit to the memorial, rejecting “restraint toward the words of praise for anti-Semitism, for racism and anti-democratic persecution.”
(Al-Araby Al Jadeed, PC, Social Media)
