Thursday, January 15, after a major right wing newspaper suggested he was part of a Jewish conspiracy against Hungary.
On Wednesday, January 14, Hungary’s daily Magyar Nemzet published two page articles citing numerous BosNewsLife stories which it claimed proved that Stefan J. Bos was only interested in Jewish issues and had a hidden agenda to harm the nation.
Bos, who is a Dutch citizen, told BosNewsLife he received a call from one diplomat saying the Embassy was monitoring the situation closely and prepared to help "if the situation worsens," amid concern about the violent nature of extremists in Hungary.
Magyar Nemzet ("Hungarian Nation"), among the largest dailies in Hungary, is backed by the main centre right opposition party Fidesz of former Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Civic Circles right wing movement.
STORIES
One of the stories was written by Istvan Lovas, who also addressed a far-right rally Sunday, January 11, against the Budapest based alternative radio station Tilos Radio, where an apparently drunk radio host aired anti-Christian remarks on Christmas Eve.
In what was interpreted as an anti- Jewish speech, Lovas stressed a "small minority" was trying to control Hungary. At the same demonstration an angry crowd burned an Israeli flag, while waving flags from the Nazi era and attacking a press photographer.
The deputy head of mission of the Israeli Embassy, Asaf Ichilevich told BosNewsLife he was deeply concerned about these developments.
ISRAEL
"The Israeli Embassy condemns the anti-Christian statements made by Tilos Radio but does not understand why they were seen parallel with Israel," he said. "It is intolerable in the 21th century and in Hungary which will soon be a full member country of the European Union to burn the flag of an independent democratic country."
The media problems for Bos began last week after Magyar Nemzet began running stories criticizing BosNewsLife and Voice of America articles on hate speech in Hungary, claiming they were part of "a virus of disinformation" spreading around the globe.
It also accused Bos of calling Hungarian President Ferenc Madl a racist for vetoing anti-hate speech legislation last month, sending it instead to the Constitutional Court for a second opinion. Bos strongly denied the charges on Hungarian television and in a rival
newspaper.
PRAYERS
He has urged prayers for his wife, also mentioned in the story as well as Tamas S. Kiss, "a born again Hungarian Christian journalist" who co-authored an ANS article on the Holocaust and Swedish Diplomat Raoul Wallenberg. Kiss was "falsely" linked by Magyar Nemzet to a writer with a similar name working for anti-Semitic news papers in the past, Bos said.
Wednesday’s articles in Magyar Nemzet also quoted an BosNewsLife story in which Bos suggested that many Hungarian Christians do not seem to realize that Jesus was born of the Jewish Virgin Mary and that the first Evangelists were Jews.
"As a believer, I hope in the end the Gospel of Christ and His Truth will prevail in Hungary, which is clearly a troubled nation," Bos told BosNewsLife. There are about 100,000 Jews living in Hungary, which was a close ally of Nazi Germany during the Second World War, when 600,000 Hungarian Jews died.
"Unlike Germany, Hungary has not yet adequately dealt with its recent past. After decades of Communism this remains the country’s challenge today," Bos told Dutch Business Nieuws Radio covering the controversy Friday, January 16.
