Image by getty images

A lawmaker for Hungary’s ultra-nationalist Jobbik party has demanded a fellow lawmaker resign because she has Israeli citizenship.

Elod Novak said during a news conference Nov. 29 that Katalin Ertsey of the opposition LMP Party should step down because she had an Israeli passport in addition to her Hungarian nationality.

Index, a Hungarian news portal, later quoted him as saying that, “Israel has more deputies in the Hungarian parliament than they have in the Israeli Knesset.” He added this caused the Hungarian parliament to make “favorable” decisions toward Israel.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

The Anti-Defamation League has called Jobbik an “overtly anti-Semitic party.”

Novak’s comments came in the wake of remarks by fellow Jobbik lawmaker, Marton Gyongyosi, who had proposed drawing up a list of people in the country “to see how many are of Jewish origin and present a certain national security risk to Hungary” during a parliamentary debate on Nov. 26 on Israel’s recent conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Gyongyosi later apologised to his “Jewish compatriots,” saying he meant only those with dual Hungarian-Israeli citizenship.

Following this, Novak sent an email to all deputies Nov. 28 requesting they make any dual citizenship public, in the public interest.

AFP quoted Attila Peterfalvi, president of the National Data Protection and Freedom of Information Authority, as saying a lawmaker’s dual citizenship is in the public domain but not what their other nationality is. Having to declare that would be a “violation of human dignity,” he said.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount