Hungary issues anti-EU, anti-Jew ad

Hungary issues anti-EU, anti-Jew ad

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norman lebrecht

April 30, 2017

The Victor Orban government has issued a television advertisement, attacking Brussels and George Soros as foreign elements that are supposedly interfering in Hungary’s internal affairs.

The implications will be clear to all who follow Hungarian politics.

Several leading musicians will need to consider their options at this ugly darkening of tone.

Comments

  • Stephen says:

    Viktor Orban has the courage to say what he feels is wrong with the EU rather than just pulling out and most people who saw Verhofstadt’s rant against Hungary’s Prime Minister calling him a Stalin will take Orban’s side. Hungary is the only country in Europe to have a Holocaust Day, to forbid by law its denial and to have compulsory learning about the Holocaust in schools. It should be remembered that Orban is not a dictator but has been elected three times and defeated twice at elections and people are free to protest in the press and elsewhere without risk of imprisonment. Further, most complaining about a lack of freedom in the media, including Verhofstadt, don’t know Hungarian.

    • Max Grimm says:

      “Hungary is the only country in Europe to have a Holocaust Day, to forbid by law its denial and to have compulsory learning about the Holocaust in schools.”

      You may wish to reassess that claim. We have all of the above in Germany as well.

    • Robert Holmén says:

      “Hungary is the only country in Europe to have a Holocaust Day, to forbid by law its denial and to have compulsory learning about the Holocaust in schools.”

      An obviously untrue statement. There are numerous countries in Europe that punish Holocaust denial.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_against_Holocaust_denial

      • Stephen says:

        I stand corrected but note that no one seeks to condemn the hotheaded Verhofstadt – who is negociating with the UK over Brexit on behalf of the EU. Brexit’s Trump?

  • Stephen says:

    PS It was Orban who instigated the Holocaust ideas; the same goes for the House of Terror museum in Budapest, dedicated to the victims of the Arrow Cross (Hungarian Nazis) and the Communist Secret Police.

  • NotSoPoorSoros says:

    Soros is also not one who identifies with being Jewish. He considers himself to be anti-tribal. To be anti-Soros is not to be anti-Semitic.

    • Mike Schachter says:

      Absolutely, Soros never done anything for Jews anywhere in the world and is funding NGOs which want to destroy Israel. I am originally a Hungarian Jew and as far as I am concerned good luck to Orban in countering this interfering parasite.

    • MacroV says:

      Soros may not be very observantly Jewish but that doesn’t stop people (even, IIRC correctly, the Malaysian government once) from lumping him into a Jewish cabal of conspirators; Jewish financiers, etc.. And it’s true he has been critical of Israel policy, which has prompted some to label him a self-hating Jew. None of this would necessarily prevent Orban from using Soros to make anti-semitic points.

      • Mike Schachter says:

        The label self-hating Jew is patent nonsense. It is just other Jews he hates.

        • David says:

          What, pray, is a self-hating Jew? Lapsed? Unwell? Unhinged? Apostate?
          What character traits must one possess to qualify?
          What tell-tale clues should an accuser look for?
          Where should a well-meaning finger pointer start the search?
          If I put my mind to it, could I become a self-hating New England Yankee?
          I see a new career rising in the East like the sun. God is good.

          • Jeffrey E. Salzberg says:

            “could I become a self-hating New England Yankee?”

            How else to explain people’s decision to drive in Boston?

      • Jeffrey E. Salzberg says:

        But we all “stick together”. Didn’t you know that?

        • Mike Schachter says:

          Being nominally Jewish does not give anyone a free pass for ethical worthlessness, which flatters Soros.

    • Jeffrey E. Salzberg says:

      It’s been my observation that antisemites rarely concern themselves with the degree to which their targets identify with Judaism.

  • Robert Holmén says:

    I can’t speak to the merits of Mr. Orban or Mr. Soros but… according to that TV spot Orban is upset by some lawsuits in the public court system?

    He should come to the US and see what real, organized foreign interference got us.

  • harold braun says:

    As a jew,i must say M.Soros is one of the most,disgusting,Power hingeschmissen,scheming bastards on the planet..which of course hasn’t anything to do with his being jewish.He is just a bad human being.And his remarks about his colloborating with the Nazis in Budapest in 1944 i find unbearably cruel,without any hint of empathy…

    • harold braun says:

      power hungry….sorry automatic HTC android spell checking

    • harold braun says:

      power hungry….sorry automatic HTC iandroid spell checking

    • Mike Schachter says:

      Quite, and he tried to suppress the interview.

    • Max Grimm says:

      Why must you say so “as a jew”[sic]? There are many people who aren’t Jewish and absolutely can’t stand George Soros.

      • ketzel says:

        Because if we don’t, people like you will claim all Jews support Soros. I believe your tactic is called a double bind, and gaslighting in general.

        • Max Grimm says:

          Don’t be ridiculous. If you really read that into/out of my question, I’d be tempted to call you delusional.
          (Or is “Ketzel” just being catty?)

          • harold braun says:

            Why i mentioned myself being jewish,Mr.Grimm?
            1.:Because i am proud of my jewish heritage
            2.:Because the article implies that many people oppose Mr.Soros on antisemitic grounds.
            3.: Because of questions like yours….

  • Agnes Kory says:

    I never thought that I would ever side with Viktor Orban, many of whose policies I disagree with.
    But, in my personal experience, neither the CEU (Soros’s private university in Budapest) nor Soros and his ultra-rich family actually care about Hungary, about Jews, about anything of genuine human value.
    If I am forced to choose between Soros plus family and Orban, I choose Orban.
    Agnes Kory (Hungarian Jewish music historian and music teacher)

    • Jeffrey E. Salzberg says:

      “But, in my personal experience, neither the CEU (Soros’s private university in Budapest) nor Soros and his ultra-rich family actually care about Hungary, about Jews, about anything of genuine human value.

      …And yet, he’s donated over $11 billion to charity.

      • Burton says:

        Yes – the $11BB donation being a minor footnote presumably. The near-hysterical rush of alt-right fury on this website is fascinating. Not sure why the instigators of these messages have designated this website for their rote eruptions but the utterly predictable, systematic nature of these postings is both mysterious and, in a sense, amusing. Often they come with names attached that are conspicuously Anglo, though on occasion specific ethnic associations will be relied upon. Mainly, it is the instant, consistent, methodical nature of these messages that is most striking. They often wreak of inauthentic tone and usage, always pounding home the same precise alt-right agenda points. Perhaps the mystery person(s) behind these posts will one day be revealed. Will be interesting!

        • Mike Schachter says:

          In my case my name is as specified, and is not Anglo as you put it. And I don’t work for any part, intelligence service, the Hungarian government., Breitbart etc. Perhaps we could know the same about you behind your pretentious verbiage?

  • J C Reader says:

    Agnes Kory wrote on 6th April 2017 “Weaponising “antisemitism” is a deeply upsetting insult to the six million who were murdered.”

    We say “weaponising Holocaust survival to get others to fund your service charge debt and legal costs is deeply insulting to law-abiding Holocaust survivors.”

    What a hypocrite!

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