Hungary: Israeli ambassador backs Orban government

DW: This month, the European Court of Justice upheld a ban on kosher and halal slaughter. Hungary's Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen was one of the few European politicians to criticize the decision, calling it a "disgrace for religious freedom and the safety of Europe's Jewish community." Do you welcome his reaction?

Ambassador Yacov Hadas-Handelsman: The Hungarian government has called a spade a spade. Mr. Semjen is correct: The court's decision places the rights of animals above the rights of humans.

Orban's government is at pains to show it has strong ties to Hungary's Jewish community. Is Semjen's statement an example of this?

It is one of many examples that show how strong the relationship between the government and the thriving Jewish community there. The government is investing a lot of money in renovating and refurbishing Jewish institutions, like cemeteries and synagogues. It is even doing so in places where Jewish life ceased to exist in the summer of 1944 because Jews from these communities were murdered in Auschwitz.

At the same time, individuals close to the Orban government have recently sparked controversy for anti-Semitic remarks. Szilard Demeter, the Hungarian culture commissioner and head of Budapest's Petofi Literary Museum, compared US billionaire and philanthropist George Soros to Adolf Hitler. He also described Hungary and Poland as the "new Jews." Demeter was subsequently forced to resign. How do you react to such statements?

We made clear in a statement that any relativization of the Holocaust is unacceptable and must be condemned. The Holocaust is incomparable. It was the most heinous crime in the history of mankind. Unfortunately, we are seeing this tendency of relativizing the Holocaust everywhere these days. When someone goes through a difficult time, they compare it to the Holocaust. When someone is angry at another person, they call them a Nazi. This downplays the singularity of these Nazi crimes.

However, figures close to the Hungarian government are making these comparisons quite often. In an argument with the leader of the European People's Party, Manfred Weber, over a planned rule of law control mechanism, Fidesz Member of European Parliament Tamas Deutsch accused the German politician of Gestapo methods.

Apparently, Mr. Deutsch came to the right conclusion over his remarks: He acknowledged he made a mistake and apologized twice. We are not here to lecture anyone. But again: Nobody should, even unintentionally, downplay the Holocaust.

Hungary's government has also been criticized for bestowing state awards on anti-Semites. Some critics also argue Orban is attempting to relativize Hungary's role in the Holocaust. Do you share this criticism?

We react whenever there are incidents like these. We do not remain indifferent. But several years ago, Hungary's President Janos Ader visited Auschwitz and said it represented "Hungary's largest cemetery" because almost one-third of people murdered there were Jewish Hungarian citizens — and I think statements like these speak for themselves. The Orban government has made its position clear on many occasions, and Orban has expressed his solidarity with the Jewish people. This also speaks for itself.

Accusations of anti-Semitism are often leveled by Germany. The Orban government usually rebukes them by arguing that Jews are much safer in Hungary than Germany, where synagogues require police protection. You spent five years in Germany as the Israeli ambassador. Do you feel safer in Budapest than Berlin?

That is difficult for me to say because, as an ambassador, I am always safe. But let us talk about the statistics. The latest figures show Hungary last year recorded the fewest anti-Semitic incidents in Europe by far. Of course, these figures do not fully reflect reality. But they do convey the dimensions. For someone who can be identified as Jewish through their appearance, Hungary is thus a country where such a person can be least afraid of walking in the streets.

On December 21, 2020, the Halle attacker was sentenced to life in prison. He had tried to enter a synagogue and kill Jews, in part because he believed George Soros controls the EU and is working to foster Muslim immigration to Europe. These are the kinds of conspiracy theories Viktor Orban has been spreading for years. Does this make Orban indirectly complicit in anti-Semitic violence?

I think George Soros is famous or infamous enough regardless of the Hungarian government. So let us leave that aside. The problem is that the "anti" in anti-Semitism cannot be limited to just anti-Semitism. It may start with hatred towards Jews. But when there are no Jews, other groups may get targeted — be that Muslims, homosexuals, people with a different skin tone. That is what the Halle attacker did. He could not find any Jews, so he found other people that seemed foreign to him, like the man in the kebab shop.

This article was translated from German.

Correction: This article was updated to reflect that almost one-third of the people murdered at Auschwitz were Jewish Hungarian citizens. An earlier version of this translated article had said almost one-third of Hungarians murdered at Auschwitz were Jews.