Hungary’s government warns Jewish community about Muslim refugees

Officials from Hungary’s Orbán government, including Minister of Human Resources Zoltán Balog, met with Jewish community leaders this week to discuss new efforts to improve Holocaust education in Hungarian schools and to alert Hungarian Jews to the fact that they too may be “impacted” by the continued wave of refugees, arriving primarily from war-torn Syria and Afghanistan. Based on the report compiled by the Hungarian State News Agency (MTI), ministers of the Orbán government are engaged in a classic example of fear mongering, suggesting very clearly that terrorists who would target Hungarian Jewish communities were lurking amongst the tens of thousands of Muslim refugees.

“The Interior Ministry informed the participants of the roundtable that in contrast to Western Europe, the dangers facing the  Hungarian Jewish community have not increased. Nevertheless, the migration situation in which Hungary now finds itself may affect Hungary’s Jewry,” reads the MTI report of the Jewish Community Roundtable and remarks by Csaba Latorcai, Deputy State Secretary for social and community issues.

Mr. Latorcai added that Hungarian Jewish community leaders have been cooperating with authorities and with the Interior Ministry “on an institutional level” for the past several months, in order to address the “migrant situation.”

What’s so shameful in this–especially on the part of the Jewish community leaders who are participating in this government-organized fear campaign–is that authorities are using precisely the same coded language to stoke the flames of fear against Muslims that they previously employed to pander to Hungarian anti-Semites. The Orbán government’s leitmotif since the Charlie Hebdo massacre is that liberal Western Europe allowed itself to be “overrun” by Muslims, and now they–and especially local Jewish communities–are paying the price. In contrast, anti-liberals like Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will protect Eastern Europe’s Jews (and the majority population), by closing the doors to Muslims and other “foreigners” who are “incapable” of ever integrating into European society, and who come from a different world and civilization, inherently at odds with ours.

What should, perhaps, make Jewish community leaders weary about collaborating with the Orbán government is the way authorities reacted to the controversy surrounding the erection of a statue to pro-Nazi interwar Hungarian politician and historian Bálin Hóman, who was sentenced to life in prison following the Second World War. At the roundtable, Jewish community leaders were told that Ministers Zoltán Balog and János Lázár “do not see in Bálint Hóman a role model, who should be commemorated through the erection of a monument.” At the same time, the government admitted that public funds are, indeed, being used to construct this statue, in honour of the late fascist politician.

András Heisler, President of the Hungarian Federation of Jewish Communities (MAZSIHISZ) greets János Lázár, Minister of the Prime Minister's Office. Photo: Péter Gyula Horváth.

András Heisler, President of the Hungarian Federation of Jewish Communities (MAZSIHISZ) opens the door for János Lázár, Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office. Photo: Péter Gyula Horváth.

In less than a year, Hungarian Jews are no longer prime  targets of the Hungarian right’s hate and vitriol in Hungary, and I would venture to say that–perhaps temporarily–the fear of the other is being stoked less against the Roma minority, and much more against the “hoards” of Muslims at the gates.

As of the beginning of August 2015, a total of 106, 309 migrants have crossed the border into Hungary, almost all of whom arrived through Serbia. Most, however, use Hungary as a transit country, heading instead to western Europe.

In quite an ironic turn if events, and copying the Canadian government’s advertising blitz in Hungarian cities like Miskolc, where they tried to dissuade Roma from claiming refugee status in Canada, the Orbán government will be launching public service announcements and erecting billboards in Syria and Afghanistan. These billboards, appearing in local languages and  dialects, will warn would-be migrants of the security barrier that Hungary is erecting along the 177 km-long border with Serbia.

The newly erected fence near Mórahalom, along the border between Hungary and Serbia. The fence includes trilingual signs warning would-be migrants that they have reached Hungary's state border. Photo: MTI/Zoltán Gergely Kelemen.

The newly erected fence near Mórahalom, along the border between Hungary and Serbia. The fence includes trilingual signs warning would-be migrants that they have reached Hungary’s state border. Photo: MTI/Zoltán Gergely Kelemen.

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