The World Jewish Congress began its three-day meeting in Budapest on 3 May with nearly 500 delegates from all over the world. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán delivered his opening speech in front of the 14th General Assembly and stated that the Hungarian Government considers it its moral obligation to promote "zero tolerance" against anti-Semitism.
He emphasised that the Hungarian Government’s Christian Democratic policy had felt that it was its moral obligation to introduce a memorial day for the victims of the Holocaust in Hungarian schools and to create a Holocaust Memorial Centre as well as to listen to the Kaddish in Parliament. It also considered it a duty to organise a memorial year in honour of Raoul Wallenberg, to ban paramilitary organisations and symbols of tyranny and to set up the Holocaust Memorial Committee 2014, he added. Péter Feldmájer, President of the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities (MAZSIHISZ) also reminded the audience in his speech that after Israel, Hungary was the first country in the world to introduce a National Holocaust Memorial Day.
Prime Minister Orbán pointed out that anti-Semitism was on the rise throughout Europe, including in Hungary, and that failed crisis management from European leaders is “causing increasingly deep frustration” resulting in disillusionment, anger and hatred. He underlined that “in a situation such as this, it is especially important that we make it clear: anti-Semitism is unacceptable and intolerable.” His words were met with applause. The Prime Minister also thanked the participants of the assembly for calling attention to rising anti-Semitism. The Hungarian Government's response to growing anti-Semitism is to "to recall and reinforce the examples and tradition of good Christians," he stated.
On Monday, 29 April the Hungarian Police Force banned radical right-wing Jobbik party’s demonstration, which was to take place prior to the WJC meeting. However, the organisers took the case to court, after which the Municipal Court of Budapest overruled the ban. On Friday, the Prime Minister instructed the Minister of Interior to "use all lawful means" to prevent the event and requested the Supreme Court to "examine what legal means Hungary had at its disposal to enforce its Constitution". The demonstration took place on Saturday, with a strong police presence and the identity of 35 participants confirmed.
In an interview on Friday, to Israeli daily Yediot Ahronoth the Prime Minister, without hesitation, firmly and consequently excluded the possibility of any kind of cooperation with Jobbik, calling them a danger to Hungarian democracy.
(Prime Minister’s Office)
