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Subscribe to RSSBUDAPEST, Hungary -- A Hungarian far-right politician urged the government to draw up a list of Jews who pose a "national security risk", stirring outrage among Jewish leaders who saw echoes of fascist policies that led to the Holocaust.
Marton Gyongyosi, a leader of Hungary's third-strongest political party Jobbik, said the list was necessary because of heightened tensions following the brief conflict in Gaza and should include members of parliament.
Attila Kovacs / EPA
Deputy leader of Hungary's far-right Jobbik party Marton Gyongyosi delivers a speech in Budapest on Tuesday.
Opponents have condemned frequent anti-Semitic slurs and tough rhetoric against the Roma minority by Gyongyosi's party as populist point scoring ahead of elections in 2014.
Jobbik has never called publicly for lists of Jews.
"I am a Holocaust survivor," said Gusztav Zoltai, executive director of the Hungarian Jewish Congregations' Association. "For people like me this generates raw fear, even though it is clear that this only serves political ends. This is the shame of Europe, the shame of the world."
Between 500,000 and 600,000 Hungarian Jews died in the Holocaust, according to the Holocaust Memorial Center in Budapest. According to some accounts, one in three Jews killed in Auschwitz were Hungarian nationals.
Gyongyosi's call came after Foreign Ministry State Secretary Zsolt Nemeth said Budapest favored a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as benefiting both Israelis with Hungarian ancestry, Hungarian Jews and Palestinians in Hungary.
Gyongyosi, who leads Jobbik's foreign policy cabinet, told Parliament: "I know how many people with Hungarian ancestry live in Israel, and how many Israeli Jews live in Hungary," according to a video posted on Jobbik's website late on Monday.
"I think such a conflict makes it timely to tally up people of Jewish ancestry who live here, especially in the Hungarian Parliament and the Hungarian government, who, indeed, pose a national security risk to Hungary."
Gyongyosi apologizes
Gyongyosi, 35, is the son of a diplomat who grew up mostly in the Middle East and Asia -- Egypt, Iraq, Afghanistan and India -- and whose office is decorated by Iranian and Turkish souvenirs. He graduated with a degree in business and political science from Trinity College in Dublin in 2000.
He worked for four years at the Dublin office of KPMG, then returned to Budapest in 2005. He has been active in Jobbik since 2006 and became their representative in parliament in 2010.
Want a European Union passport? Just invest $322,000 in Hungary
The government condemned the remarks.
"The government strictly rejects extremist, racist, anti-Semitic voices of any kind and does everything to suppress such voices," the government spokesman's office said.
Laszlo Kover, the Speaker of parliament, who is from the ruling Fidesz party, also issued a statement on Tuesday in which he called for a tightening of house rules that would allow a sanctioning of such behavior.
Gyongyosi tried to play down his comments on Tuesday, saying he was referring to citizens with dual Israeli-Hungarian citizenship.
"I apologize to my Jewish compatriots for my declarations that could be misunderstood," he said on Jobbik's website.
He later told a news conference that he would not resign and considered the matter "closed," national news agency MTI reported.
King maker?
Jobbik's anti-Semitic discourse often evokes a centuries-old blood libel - the accusation that Jews used Christians' blood in religious rituals.
"Jobbik has moved from representing medieval superstition (of the blood libel) to openly Nazi ideologies," wrote Slomo Koves, chief rabbi of the Unified Hungarian Jewish Congregation.
Jobbik registered as a political party in 2003, and gained increasing influence as it radicalized gradually, vilifying Jews and the country's 700,000 Roma.
The group gained notoriety after founding the Hungarian Guard, an unarmed vigilante group reminiscent of World War Two-era far-right groups. It entered Parliament at the 2010 elections and holds 44 of 386 seats.
The center-right government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban has struggled to pull Hungary out of recession as many European countries suffer from an economic crisis.
Orban's Fidesz has lost more than a million voters since 2010, even though it is still the strongest political force.
More than half of Hungary's electorate is undecided and having retained its voter base, some analysts say Jobbik could hold the balance of power in the 2014 elections between Fidesz and the fragmented left-wing opposition.
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Well, for starters, after launching humanity into two, world wars, along with the Holocaust, Germany is one nation that has made a huge, 180 degree turn. It now has all sorts of laws against Anti-Semitism, and is a real advocate for global stability. Therefore, perhaps Angela Merkel and her EU friends should persuade Hungary into letting go of failed, past ideologies?
If Western Europe sit back and do nothing, wouldn't they be at fault, (God forbid), if something crazy does happen?
As a Jewish person, I considered a visit Hungary, but decided against it, because this news is just the continuation of what's been happening there for a while. Humans are terrible, in that they struggle to learn from history.
I believe this guy is not ruling Hungary. He is part of a radical right wing minority that makes a lot of noise. Sort of like the Tea Party in the US.
jesus was born a jew raised a jew and died a jew jewish people are terrific human beings leave them alone
Yes!!!
You are entitled to your mythology.
And you to yours, DOU44.
This development in Hungary leaves me in tears. I lost two family members in 1980 to Iranian zealots just because of our faith. It is abhorable that the world is so complacent, so disgustingly stupid that they do nothing, and that is why genocide happens with impunity, and history repeat itself.
You have always shown shallow and ignorant thoughts. Iranians did not murder armenians, although islam does not like their "uncleanliness". Iranian mullahs continue to murder B'ahais starting with a point blank bullet on a rooftop in the past prime minister Hoveida, because of his faith. You should not be posting when your IQ cannot rise above 14. We survived stupidity of muslim fanatics like you, but the rest of the world is still continue to suffer.
sirhan sirhan, your thoughts are a glimpse into your private world.
Hey Hans, don't forget the gypsies and homosexuals!
"A Israeli far-right politician urged the government to draw up a list of Palestinians who pose a "national security risk", stirring outrage among Palestinian leaders who saw echoes of fascist policies that led to the Nakba."
Same song, different verse.
That tongue makes a "popping" sound when extracted from yonder colon.
Except that it did not happen in Israel.
Hush. Don't tell him that. He wants to believe so very badly.
Of course you're correct, the Nakba never happened and the Israeli prisons don't hold thousands of Palestinian political prisoners ... hahahahaha dbag trolls
Palestinian political prisoners- jailed merely for their beliefs- that and the minor issue of blowing up buses full of schoolchildren and such.
Tell them to ask the Democratic National Commitee. Thank you, Mr. President.
See definition of Internet Troll. You fit perfectly. You do not add value, just looking to stir emotion that make you feel better. That plus your ignorant and hate facts like all un-informed Republicans.
Look up your colon and solve the riddle of your sphinc.
Try to bully and blame others? You fail.
This guy needs to be removed from the Universe....now. Don't wait; remove him now. This can't be allowed to fester for even a little while. The Earth cannot endure another Holocaust. I hope Mossad is already briefing their hit team...
The seeds have been sewn and it's the Republican Party that is next in line to commit crimes similar to Hitler and Mussolini.
Good news, he said it out loud, Hungary will have to respond. Bad news, stupid Americans choose to connect American conservatives with this prejudice, they can p ss off.
I think it would be much easier to type it up. Having to draw each person would take a very ling time and is not cost-effective.
Has the GOP moved?
They can require them wear a yellow Star of David patch, sewn firmly and visibly at the left side of the clothing at the height of the chest, and inscribed in the center with the word "Jude". This would help people know when they were dealing with a Jew. It seems that I remember someone else a long time ago used this technique- Lets see, what was that guy's name?
If you miss the word Hungry, it's a perfect definition of the Republican Party-Facist Party. Just replace Jews with women, blacks, mexicans, gay people, muslims and poor people. Sorry to make it a Mad-Lib, but it fits.
Mouths are all agape at this news when we just narrowly escaped ushering in state-sanctioned RAPE via the right wing loons in our own country?
Yup!...Let the Stupid begin! Just another a$$hole looking to identify a scapegoat for issues they can't solve.
Yup!..."They did it!!!"
I hope the country comes out in majority against this immoral a$$hole.
This Gyongyosi fellow should be clued in to the fact that most of humanity is now on a 'List' of some kind, somewhere...
Marton
Gyongyosi, you are an extremist PIG, and for the record, I am a 'shanty
Irishman' from the USA. I wasn't around during the Holocaust, and Marton, be
assured, I personally won't be around for any Holocaust, whether it be against
Jews or any other people. I anxiously await, the opportunity to read all the
Hungarian rebukes, to your ill conceived idea and your unabashed public display
of STUPIDITY.
New generations, new fears, and no memories of the real horror of the Nazis and the Jews are easy targets, even today.
This is horrifying..... and yet, the world has never gotten over it's insane hatred of the Jews. Whatever the reason- ignorance, jealousy, stupidity- the world will always hate us (with exceptions of course). This is why Israel MUST exist- and idiots like this guy must be denounced by any sane government in the world!!!
I'm Jewish, Marton. 100%, on both sides. I'm also of Hungarian descent. Not only that, I'm a bodybuilder who bench presses 350 pounds, or about 160 kg. Would you like to get your ass whupped by a guy in his 60's, Marton? Then bring it on, Naziboy.
Deja vu.
Israelis with dual citizenship should be barred from US gov't high level employment, but they are not. The Hungarian has a point. In the US, it's the Islamics and Hispanics that are targeted. In the creamy goodness USA, it used to be Plains Indians- nearly wiped out by white Americans- and American born Blacks that were targets.
Do you think Muslims and Hispanics with dual citizenship should be barred from US gov't high level employment as well? I can see a damn good argument for both groups to be targeted.
Muslims because they follow the Islamic faith and as such, will always put their religion above any loyalty to this country, and Hispanics because their dogmatic loyalty to their Mexican heritage and the Hispanic element is always placed above their loyalty to the laws and other citizens of this country.
Can't have your cake and eat it too, you know.
So what? Didn't Bush create a list of Muslims?
People that think that world peace is achievable are some of the most unrealistic folks on Earth. This moron in Hungry is proof that there will always be whack jobs among us...
OK.. this is just about the most disgusting thing I've read all year. Mossad used to go after monsters like this guy. Let's hope they have some bandwidth after their wars on the home front...
Why do cretins continue insist that National SOCIALISTs are the “far right”, far right in relation to what, Marxists? What would such idiots call a libertarian? Far side of the universe?