Haaretz reports on anti-semitism and racism in Hungary.
From a centre-right political party:
The center-right party “Democratic Hungarian Forum” published on the front page of its newsletter a picture of Suranyi’s face inside a yellow star of David (reminiscent of the yellow patch from the days of Fascism) with the following caption: “Suranyi is actually the candidate backed by the elderly [Israeli President] Shimon Peres. The takeover deal announced by the Israeli leader has now reached the stage in which a Jewish Hungarian prime minister is required. The deal has been in the works for many months.”
– to the police union’s newsletter:
The following issue of the newsletter included another of his articles, in which he argued “I am in favor of peaceful solutions. But a peaceful solution could only be implemented if our Zionist government were to relocate to Tel Aviv, as it is them who are calling for war.”
“A crumbling country, torn apart by Hungarian-Gypsy civil war, could easily be claimed by the rich Jews,” the article went on to say. “That is why we should expect a Hungarian-Gypsy civil war, fomented by Jews as they rub their hands together with pleasure.”
This article elicited an official complaint filed with the prosecution, arguing that it contained incitement against minority groups. The prosecution rejected the complaint, stating that it did not call for violence against Jews or Gypsies, but rather called to defend against these groups’ probable attack.
The “prepared for action” union affair is a testament to the state of racist incitement and anti-Semitism in Hungary. It has emerged that the union boasts more than 4,000 members, some 10 percent of the total number of police officers in Hungary.
UPDATE
Adam LeBor adds:
The Haaretz article is not quite accurate. The extreme-right newspaper which printed the picture of Mr Suranyi with star of David is called ‘Magyar Forum’ (Hungarian Forum) and is not related to the centre-right party, the Hungarian Democratic Forum, which has taken a strong lead in criticising the rise of the far-right.
The police union involved here is not the mainstream one, but a small radical grouping, and it has been condemned by the main police union and the Justice ministry is investigating. Of course it is very disturbing that armed public servants hold these kind of views. One of the problems here in Hungary is the very weak laws on freedom of speech and assembly which were passed as a reaction the state controls under Communism, and which allow almost anything short of direct, targeted incitement against individuals.
That is good to know.