Hungarian Jewish Leader Returns Award in Protest of Far Right-Winger
Image by Getty Images
– The president of Hungary’s main Jewish umbrella organization, Mazsihisz, has returned a high state award to protest the same award being presented to a nationalist journalist described as racist and anti-Semitic.
In a Facebook post, Andras Heisler, who is also a vice president of the World Jewish Congress, said he was returning the Knight’s Cross, which he was awarded in 2011, following presentation of the honor last week to the right-wing journalist and columnist Zsolt Bayer.
Heisler described Bayer as a man “who is a racist, who is an anti-Semite, who is polluting Hungary with his destructive sentiments and his burning hatred of the Roma, who is vigilantly protecting the traditions of the Hungarian extremist right, keeping alive feelings of fear and hatred.”
In his statement, which was also posted on the Mazsihisz website, Heisler said he had received his own Knight’s Cross in recognition of his years of civic work “in the interests of the Jewish community.”
“I was proud of this award and thought that it would serve to strengthen the moral values that spring from a diverse range of people, people of different faiths, people who support different political sides; I received this award together with representatives of a broad range of religious institutions,” Heisler wrote. “This represented to me the value of diversity; and valuing each other’s views represents the future of Hungary.”
The presentation of the Knights Cross to Bayer contradicted these values, he wrote.
“I value diversity, but not destructive extremism,” Heisler said. “I do not wish to belong to any community to which Zsolt Bayer belongs, even virtually.”
He added: “As a civil activist I received the award, and as a responsible Hungarian citizen I am returning it. This is my own personal decision.”
Bayer, a co-founder of the ruling Fidesz party, has long angered Jews and others with his articles and op-eds in right-wing publications. In April, the Israeli ambassador to Hungary protested to the editor of the Magyar Hirlap newspaper saying that Bayer’s columns “openly advocate anti-Semitic sentiments and incite against the Jewish People and the State of Israel.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
