Officials of the Hungarian government appear to be in the habit of misrepresenting statements made by foreign partners or entities during visits and discussions. Earlier this month, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) was forced to clarify its position on antisemitism in Hungary, after the organization’s views were misrepresented by the Hungarian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. And last year, the co-founder of the Canada Romani Alliance had to do much the same, after her remarks were distorted in a Hungarian government press release. Now it is the Simon Wiesenthal Center which was forced to issue the statement below, due to a fabrication in the Hungarian pro-government press.
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Mark Weitzman, the Director of Government Affairs at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, blasted as a “total fabrication” a recent report in the Hungarian press that alleged that Mr. Weitzman agreed with statements calling US Ambassador Samantha Powers’ recent remarks at the UN which strongly criticized the Hungarian government’s record on antisemitism and Holocaust distortion as “extreme”. Weitzman, who also chairs the Committee on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial of the 31 nation International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) emphasized that “not only did we never even discuss Amb. Power or her remarks at the meeting, but had we done so I would have supported and praised them. She has earned the respect of the Simon Wiesenthal Center for consistently speaking out on antisemitism.”