Hungarian Jews Pan Netanyahu Visit As ‘Let Down’
Image by Getty Images
Hungarian Jews on Wednesday sharply criticized Viktor Orban’s billboard campaign using the image of U.S. financier George Soros and said the Israeli government’s backing of it came as a disappointment to the local Jewish community.
In the campaign, Soros is singled out as an enemy of Hungary. “Let’s not allow Soros to have the last laugh” say billboards next to a picture of the 86-year-old Jewish investor, a campaign that Jewish groups say foments anti-Semitism.
Addressing Prime Minister Orban and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a ceremonial hall near the main synagogue in Budapest, Andras Heisler, chairman of the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Federations (Mazsihisz), said it was unacceptable that the campaign triggered fear among Jews.
“Today, in Hungary an all-out propaganda campaign could be started with visual and lingustic tools that triggered bad feelings among us Jews,” Heisler said.
Ahead of Netanyahu’s visit to Budapest, Israel’s Foreign Ministry last week issued a statement saying that Soros was a legitimate target for criticism.
Heisler said the statement was a “let-down for our community.” He also called on Netanyahu to ensure greater recognition for disapora Jews in Hungary.
Neither Orban, who faces an election next year, nor Netanyahu reacted to the comments in their subsequent speeches.—Reuters
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism so that we can be prepared for whatever news 2025 brings.
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. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
