Miami – Soros pipebomb and Hungarian President’s visit

US federal law enforcement officials have identified the suspect who sent explosive packages to more than a dozen Trump critics, including Hungarian-American George Soros. Cesar Altieri Sayoc Jr. is 56 years old and lives in Aventura, just north of Miami. Sayoc also posted hateful Facebook and Twitter messages targeting Soros under various aliases. He is currently being held at a federal prison in Miami.

On the day of the announcement Hungary’s President János Áder was also in Miami to meet Mayor Suarez. Áder is one of the leading political forces of the anti-Soros campaign; in fact he signed a constitutional amendment (!) called the “Stop Soros” bill. (Read here.)

Miami Mayor Suarez and Hungary’s President Áder.

Hungary has spent millions of dollars on anti-Soros lobbying. Századvég, a government think-tank is conducting a thinly veiled anti-Semitic survey in EU countries that includes the question: What is your opinion of George Soros? Hungarian politicians and diplomats are fanning the anti-Soros hysteria; many of them like government spokesperson Mr. Zoltán Kovács and state secretary Mr. Tristan Azbej are frequent visitors here in the US. 888.hu, a website controlled by the ruling Fidesz party ran an anti-Soros hate poster almost identical to Sayoc’s.

Soros poster posted by pro-government Hungarian portal 888.hu

Soros poster posted by pipebomber Sayoc

Although President Áder has not advocated violence against Soros, he certainly helped to create a dangerous atmosphere of hate. Now he is recruiting the diaspora in Florida and New York, primarily recently arrived immigrants and their Churches, to act as lobbyists for the Orbán government. It is appalling that no Honorary Consul, Hungarian Church or organization has rejected the hateful anti-Soros campaign in the US or Canada.

In 1991 the City of Santa Barbara, California hosted the Hungarian Spring event with conservative Foreign Minister Géza Jeszenszky as its keynote speaker. The festivities were sponsored, among others, by Árpád Göncz, Otto von Habsburg, László Tőkés, George F. Hemingway and George Soros, who was especially hailed for his generous support of Hungarian culture. Árpád Göncz and Otto von Habsburg are not alive today but László Tőkés and George F. Hemingway are, and they are bashing Soros. (Read the Tőkés statement here and Hemingway’s article here in Hungarian.)

Hannah Arendt wrote “The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist.” Hungary’s government propaganda has erased the distinction between fact and fiction. And now some Hungarian-American organizations are willing to import Hungary’s hateful ideas, among them the anti-Soros campaign.

They should think twice.

György Lázár

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