plan of action" to combat anti-Semitism amid concern about a rising number of incidents against Jews in the new European Union nation and the region, Hungarian media reported Thursday April 28.
In a statement released by Hungarian News Agency MTI, Hungary’s Reformed Church said the plan was developed this week by what is known as ‘The Council of Christians and Jews in Hungary’.
"The council will establish contacts with the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, which drafts annual reports on anti-Semitic manifestations in the EU member states," the statement said.
The Council’s session was reportedly attended by Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist and Reformed churches and the Jewish religious community and came after reports of attacks against Jews. It came after reports of new attacks against the Jewish Community.
SWASTIKA SIGNS
Earlier this year Swastika signs were painted on several key building and monuments in the Hungarian town of Debrecen, while right wing extremists have also destroyed Jewish cemeteries across the country.
There have also been concerns about anti-Jewish sentiments within right wing political parties and groups, and anti-Jewish slogans at football marches. In addition, last year, Hungarian police prevented a major terrorist attack on a Jewish memorial and an Israeli flag was burned during a far right demonstration.
This month’s Holocaust Memorial Week was also an attempt to combat anti Semitism in Hungary, which government officials admit remains a problem in the post-Communist country, which joined the EU May 1, 2004. Hungary was a close ally of Nazi Germany during World War Two, when about 600,000 Hungarian Jews were massacred.
100,000 JEWS
Hungary has a Jewish population of up to 100,000 people, the largest Jewish community in Central and Eastern Europe outside Russia. In a sign of support for Israel and the Jewish people, Hungary’s Socialist presidential candidate and current House Speaker Katalin Szili was first to sign a book of condolences for Israel’s recently deceased former president Ezer Weizmann at the Israeli Embassy on Wednesday, April 27.
"I share the grief caused by the death of Mr. Weizman, who had taken great steps forward in creating peace in the Middle East," Szili reportedly wrote. Weizmann, who was head of state in Israel between 1993 and 2000, died on Sunday, April 25 at the age of 81. He is seen as having played a role in signing a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979 and advocated a compromise with Palestinians.
AUSTRIA ROW
Neighboring Austria, a country with which Hungary had a long history, is also under pressure to show solidarity with Israel and the Jewish people amid after an Austrian politician has caused outrage by questioning the existence of the Nazi gas chambers. John Gudenus of the far-right Freedom Party called into doubt the evidence for gas chambers when questioned about their existence on Austrian television, news reports said.
"We should examine this," he said, "and not put up taboos. One should check this physically and scientifically," the British Broadcasting Corporation quoted him as saying. President Heinz Fischer, in remarks broadcast by national television, said that "anybody who has any doubt about the gas chambers should go and visit Mauthausen or Auschwitz." "There one can see the undeniable, unbearable evidence … one should be ashamed," he reportedly added. (With BosNewsLife Research and Stefan J. Bos)
