Israel retracts criticism of anti-Semitism in Hungary and strongly attacks Soros - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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A dilemma

On Netanyahu’s orders: Israel's Foreign Ministry retracts criticism of anti-Semitism in Hungary and strongly attacks Soros
A day after Israel’s ambassador harshly called on the Hungarian PM to remove posters against the Jewish billionaire, the Foreign Ministry backtracks, says Soros constantly undermines Israel’s governments


Image
An anti-Soros campaign poster
This photo taken Wednesday, July 5, 2017 in Budapest, Hungary, shows an anti-Soros campaign reading "99 percent reject illegal m... / Photo by Pablo Gorondi/AP
By Barak Ravid
Published 08:49 10.07.17

At the behest of the Prime Minister’s Office, the Foreign Ministry on Sunday retracted a statement issued the previous day by the Israeli ambassador to Hungary, which had called on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his party to halt a poster campaign against Jewish-American financier George Soros on the grounds that it was fueling anti-Semitism.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon issued a clarification that refrained from criticizing Orbán but also sharply criticized Soros himself, using claims similar to the ones being made against him by the Hungarian government.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Budapest, July 4, 2017. / Photo by ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP
“Israel deplores any expression of anti-Semitism in any country and stands with Jewish communities everywhere in confronting this hatred. This was the sole purpose of the statement issued by Israel’s ambassador to Hungary,” the statement said. “In no way was the statement meant to delegitimize criticism of George Soros, who continuously undermines Israel’s democratically elected governments by funding organizations that defame the Jewish state and seek to deny it the right to defend itself.”

The tension comes at a particularly sensitive time, since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet Orbán in Budapest on July 18, during what will be the first visit of an Israeli premier to Hungary in 30 years. The day after their meeting, Netanyahu and Orbán are scheduled to meet with the leaders of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland.

On Saturday, Israeli Ambassador to Hungary Yossi Amrani issued an extraordinarily sharp statement in which he called on Orbán and his party, Fidesz, to remove posters hung throughout the country that criticized Soros.

The posters appearing all over Hungary over the past few days feature a picture of Soros laughing and are captioned, “Let’s not let Soros have the last laugh.”

Some of the posters were glued to the floor of train cars in Budapest and other cities, so that anyone boarding the train would have to step on them.

Orbán and Fidesz are attacking Soros – who was born in Budapest and survived Nazi-occupied Hungary – because of the latter’s supposed activity against Hungary’s harsh policies toward the entry of Muslim refugees.

Orbán and Fidesz have taken what many see as a nationalist, racist and Islamophobic line ahead of the 2018 election. They claim Soros funds civil society groups and liberal associations in Hungary with the purpose of “settling a million migrants” in the country.

The Jewish community in Hungary, numbering over 100,000, is extremely concerned by the messages in Orbán’s election campaign – particularly the ones against Soros. Since the launch of the campaign, the Hungarian media has reported a number of incidents in which anti-Semitic graffiti has been spray-painted on the posters.

Senior figures in the Jewish community have conveyed very worried messages to the Israeli Embassy in Budapest about the posters, which they say have anti-Semitic connotations and encourage an atmosphere of aggression against Jews, especially because many Hungarians consider Soros as first and foremost Jewish.

Following the messages conveyed by the local Jewish communities, there were consultations between Amrani and Foreign Ministry staffers in Jerusalem, after which it was decided to issue a statement critical of the poster campaign.

The wording of the statement was approved by the ministry’s deputy director general for diplomacy, Alon Ushpiz, and Foreign Ministry Director General Yuval Rotem.

“The campaign not only evokes sad memories but also sows hatred and fear,” the statement said. “It’s our moral responsibility to raise a voice and call on the relevant authorities to exert their power and put an end to this cycle.”

Although Netanyahu holds the foreign ministry portfolio, the senior Foreign Ministry officials that approved the wording of the statement did not coordinate its release with the Prime Minister’s Office, which learned of it from the media.

After the statement was issued, there was also pushback from right-wing politicians and media outlets, which condemned the Foreign Ministry for issuing a statement that seemed to defend Soros, whom the Israeli right sees as leading the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel.

As a result of this pressure, the Prime Minister’s Office ordered the Foreign Ministry to issue a clarification that included a general denunciation of anti-Semitism without specifically mentioning Hungary, while also criticizing Soros.

This is the second recent clash between Israel and Hungary over messages with anti-Semitic connotations promulgated by Orbán and his party.

At an election rally two weeks ago, Orbán praised Hungary’s leader during World War II, Miklós Horthy, who collaborated with the Nazis and under whose rule 500,000 Hungarian Jews were deported to extermination camps, where most were murdered.

Israel protested the statements to the government in Budapest. However, in order not to compromise the upcoming summit, it agreed to restraint itself and made do with a weakly worded clarification by the Hungarian foreign minister.


http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.800437



George Soros (born August 12, 1930 in Hungary) is a leftist American businessman and one of the richest people in the world, current net worth estimated to be at about $8.4 billion. The birth-name of George Soros is György Schwartz, he changed his family name in 1936 from Schwartz to Soros to avoid antisemitism. George Soros later said that he "grew up in a Jewish, anti-semitic home," and that his parents were "uncomfortable with their religious roots."




#14824707
If Soros is anti-Israel then he is, jewish or not, an anti-semite. If his activities in Hungary make jewish people look bad then again that is an anti-semitic activity.

I understand why an Israeli might be sensitive of Hungarian criticism of Soros, Israel exists to be a haven for and defender of jewry but Soros, and the like of him, is really more of an anti-jew than a jew. Israel does itself and world jewry no favours in defending him.
#14825509
Quoting Bibi's recent speech in Budapest, noir wrote:“I think Europe has to decide if it wants to live and thrive or if it wants to shrivel and disappear, I am not very politically correct. I know that’s a shock to some of you."

That's an interestingly shrill quote from his speech. But there are many more that are much more juicy. (Translations into frank-talk in italics)

A Guardianarticle wrote:“The European Union is the only association of countries in the world that conditions the relations with Israel, which produces technology in every area, on political conditions. The only ones! Nobody does it,” Netanyahu said before officials realised the meeting was being overheard by reporters and cut the feed.

How dare a group of countries put conditions on relations with another one. You either love other countries how they are, or you bomb them. What's with all this beating around the bush. Either Israel is the best nation ever, or ... Europe dries up. :lol:

“We are part of the European culture,” Netanyahu continued. “Europe ends in Israel. East of Israel, there is no more Europe. We have no greater friends than the Christians who support Israel around the world. Not only the evangelists. If I go to Brazil, I’ll be greeted there with more enthusiasm than at the Likud party.”

Israel is as far East as Europe goes. Europe has no race-colonies in India or China. Israel is as far East as European colonization has reached.

And in Brazil, the rich are forced to kiss Bibi's ass in order to get arms deals and logistical support they need to suppress their own population. Why can't Bibi find the same kind of ass-kissing among his peers?
#14825536
Dave wrote:When exactly did democracy come to mean opposing the interests of the majority population? :?:


Since the late sixties and the politics of identity.

How dare a group of countries put conditions on relations with another one. You either love other countries how they are, or you bomb them. What's with all this beating around the bush. Either Israel is the best nation ever, or ... Europe dries up. :lol:



The policy is implied to Israel only. This is motivated not only by the imperative of human rights but in the hope that it will help EU to get immunized from criticism, while Europeans could engage in mutually fruitful business transactions with dictatorial regimes. Today German led EU is eager to pursue relationships with dictatorial Arab regimes and selling arms to human rights champions like Iran and Saudi. The decades-long silence on violations of human rights in Muslim countries, is tolerated on the grounds of “cultural relativism”, while the gross human rights abuses of Muslim and other dictatorships in Asia and Africa are glossed over.
Last edited by noir on 21 Jul 2017 11:49, edited 2 times in total.
#14825571
Dave wrote:When exactly did democracy come to mean opposing the interests of the majority population? :?:


The entire history of western democracy so far. In Britain the elite love to pat themselves on the back and talk about the mother of Parliaments and Britain's good work spreading democracy and yet my great grandfather did not even have the vote while his flesh was being torn up by hot metal in a Belgian forest during the first world war. Like the vast majority of working class men in the UK he didn't get the vote till late 1918 (100% of all the Hun troops he was facing did have the vote before the war had even started).

You recent posts have been odd Dave, why are you pretending to be really naive? :?:
#14825585
The Visegrad Group is a joke, and they are befriending Israel so much because that's how they mean to kiss Trump's arse I guess. It's very interesting that the Israeli government has warm relations with countries in Europe where anti-Semitism thrives the most, in Poland and Hungary especially. Now I tend to believe the Hungarian government has been running the anti-Soros campaign to channel anti-Semitism in the 'right' way and avert attention from Orbán bending over to Netanyahu. However, in my opinion Israel is still more unpopular in Hungary than Soros (I wonder if it's the same in Poland), although the same people like or dislike them mostly.
#14825601
Ter wrote:Any discord in the EU feels like angels singing in my ears whilst I am having warm milk with honey.
Soros is a most hated figure, also in Hungary. That billionaire bastard is calling for more immigration by the Muslim hordes. Only fanatical EU Merkel groupies could be in favour of that.



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