The head of Hungary’s Jewish federation is calling on Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to remove billboards with Jewish billionaire George Soros’ face that have popped up around the country. Andras Heisler, president of the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities, noted that anti-Semitic graffiti written on the government-funded billboards “recall Hungary’s dark periods.” “The billboard campaign,…
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban long proclaimed zero tolerance of anti-Semitism but has more recently risked angering Israel and Jewish people with remarks apparently courting radical right-wing voters ahead of 2018 elections. Orban’s language, embracing notions of “ethnic homogeneity,” appears fashioned to occupy territory on the far right abandoned by the radical nationalist opposition party…
Jewish groups in Hungary and abroad are speaking out following government sanctions against a popular center run by a Jewish youth organization. In New York, Rabbi Michael Paley of UJA-Federation of New York, told the Forward, “We, along with many other global Jewish organizations, are concerned with recent government actions against the Jewish community in…
(JTA) — City officials in Budapest shut down the bar and cafeteria of a Jewish community center that is favored by opposition activists, following the discovery of illegal substances during a drug raid there. The closure notice on Wednesday reached the offices of the Aurora community center a little over two weeks after the raid,…
Budapest authorities moved on Wednesday to shutter the Aurora Cafe, which has served as a gathering spot for Hungarian opposition activists and nongovernmental human rights advocates. Authorities cited illegal drugs, but management said the government’s real aim is to muzzle opposition voices. In America, “the Resistance,” as some call the activist opposition to President Trump,…
(JTA) — Hungarian Jews condemned their prime minister’s praises for a former leader who was an ally of Adolf Hitler and oversaw the murder of more than 500,000 Holocaust victims. In a speech on Wednesday, Orban included Miklos Horthy among people he said were “exceptional statesmen” in Hungary for leading the country after the disintegration…
(JTA) — A U.S. federal court has ruled that the heirs to one of the largest art collections in Hungary prior to World War II may sue for the recovery of some of the works from Hungarian institutions in the U.S. court system. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on…
(JTA)– A Hungarian court has ordered the extradition of German right-wing extremist Horst Mahler who fled Germany to avoid serving out the rest of a sentence for Holocaust denial and incitement to anti-Semitism. Mahler, 81, was arrested on May 15 in the Hungarian city of Sopron while trying to cross into Austria. The Budapest city court on…
