Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that Hungary and Israel have achieved “great results” in their effort to build an “Orthodox community”.
“Building a #conservative community is hard work. But both Hungary and Israel already have some good results. Got a chance today to compare notes with Amiad Cohen on this noble mission,” tweeted Orban on Thursday after meeting with the Israel branch head of the Tikvah Fund, an Orthodox Jewish organization.
Israel has seen its ties with Hungary warm in recent years, thanks in no small part to a meeting of minds between right-wing Orban and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. There has been a comparison between the two countries once again Be famous As Netanyahu’s new government seeks to push proposals that would limit the power of Israel’s judiciary, similar to those pushed by Orban over the past decade in Hungary.
Orban has spoke first To make Hungary a “conservative democracy”.
Amiyad Cohen of the Tikvah Fund retweeted Orban’s post and offered his thoughts from their meeting.
“The Leftists Scream [Israel] is changing in Hungary,” Cohen said. “Since public discussion should be deep and serious, I decided to go there to find out what is happening there. And I had the privilege of meeting Prime Minister Orban for a long conversation. In addition, I met heads of research institutes and universities to have a deeper understanding of the reforms initiated there.”
“Complicated. Interesting,” Cohen said.
building a #conservative Community is a tough job. But both??????? and ???????? There are already some good results. Got a chance to compare notes today @AmiadCohen on this noble mission. pic.twitter.com/sUhv9pfuIT
— Viktor Orban (@PM_ViktorOrban) January 19, 2023
Budapest has been a staunch supporter of Jerusalem in the European Union in recent years, blocking several attempts to issue statements criticizing Israel’s policies. For example, in 2020, Hungary was one of the only countries that did not publicly speak out against Israel’s plan to unilaterally annex the West Bank after it failed.
In August 2021, Orban said in an interview with Fox News that Netanyahu’s election defeat was a “challenge” for him and praised the Israeli leader as a “good friend” of Hungary. “When he was in power, he always invested a lot of energy in building good relations with the Central European countries,” he said.
After Netanyahu won parliamentary elections for the right-wing religious bloc last year, Orban tweeted: “What a great victory for Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel! Tough times require strong leaders. Welcome back!” He attached a photo of himself holding Netanyahu’s new memoir.
In 2020, human rights organizations argued that Hungary could no longer be considered a democracy after its parliament approved a bill giving Orban’s government extraordinary powers during the coronavirus pandemic and setting no end date for them.
Orban has also been criticized for targeting Holocaust survivor and left-wing philanthropist George Soros, a Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor and financier known for his left-wing philanthropy, whom he accused of “supporting uncontrolled mass immigration”. Public Enemy”.
Jewish groups in the country condemned Orban’s anti-Soros campaign as anti-Semitic, but despite widespread condemnation, it continued and in 2018 the Soros-founded Central European University was forced to relocate from Budapest.
In 2019, Yesh Atid chair Yair Lapid said that if elected prime minister, he would demand that the Hungarian premier apologize for the “Semitic campaign” against Soros. Lapid did not deliver on that promise while serving as premier for the second half of 2022.
