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
Cesar Sayoc was arrested about a week ago for his criminal intent. He has sent out 14 so called mail-bombs.
His motivation is NOT excuse, but his past and mental condition will be considered by the jury.
But not one of the bomb was workable weapons.
But for his intent he faces a possible 58 year prison sentence.
Should his defense claim that ;hey, he did not succeed ?! Like in case of the Csaszy in Hungary ?
Yes, it must be the fault of Hungary and Hungarians. At least in the mind of a certain author that is! I seem to remember from my history books about a time when everything was the fault of Jews, which ended rather tragically. Now I guess everything has become the fault of Hungarians. Are we the new Jews?
What evidence do you have that perpetrator can even point to Hungary on a map? By the looks of him, I doubt that he could! If you were to make similar baseless arguments against other groups of people or nations, you would probably be accused of spreading hate. But I guess you only spread hate against Hungarians, so you are good! Its acceptable!
I also heard of a professor who tried to pin blame for the synagogue shooting on Hungary & Poland, on public radio. She tried to link “antisemitic propaganda” from those countries to the shooting, arguing that it plays a major role in the rise of antisemitic sentiments world-wide when they talk of opposing Soros and his political meddling. Never mind that Hungary and Poland are among the few places left in the EU where Jews can still enjoy relative safety and the freedom to publicly identify themselves as Jewish, without fear of being subjected to violence. Despite Jews living an openly Jewish life if they so choose ( no longer a choice in Western Europe), they are about 100x less likely to be subjected to antisemitic attacks in Hungary compared with neighboring Austria, where Jews no longer dare to wear a kippah or any other Jewish symbols. If this argument has merit, should Hungary not be a place where violence against Jews would be commonplace? After all, this “antisemitic propaganda” should have the strongest effect on the target population, not on people who don’t even know where Hungary is.
Israel is also a state which is largely opposed to the Soros initiatives. Their government denounced him on a number of occasions. Are they antisemitic as well? Are they fanning antisemitism?
The absurdity!
Not to mention the unethical aspect of the baseless vilifying of a nation like this!
Patron of this site once explained how he is spending time and $2000/year on this site, which is why he is justified in censoring those who disagree with content on site, on the forum. Well, content on site, this article in particular includes such baseless & absurd accusations against a nation, which amounts to spreading hate. Not long ago, same author borrowed a slogan from Romanian Neo-Nazi group Noua Dreapta “A szekelyek nem magyarok” and defended its validity, despite the fact that about 99.99% of Hungarian speakers in the Szekely region declared themselves to be ethnic Hungarians in the last census. This initiative to try to get them to deny their identity is a well-known Romanian nationalist objective, which has been pushed for decades now. “Hungarian Free Press” now officially stands for that objective as well! Is this what you spend your time and money for? You are a platform for it in the most official way possible, by publishing such articles, therefore it is what you also stand for!
Ader signed the law shortly before his vacation in the USA, which allows homeless people to become criminals. After that he made a nice holiday tour through the Everglades to look at crocodiles. That’s what I call a Hungarian warhorse, the weakest he has totally finished. Like Horthy …
This man, soros, only lived in Hungary for a short time. It would be preferable not to always mention Hungary as a citizenship. His actions must have upset the country, because overall, the country has no love for this man.
mmburka
The country.. side had never heard of GS before the Orbán regime started its slanderous hate campaign.
The better informed knew about the many (~160) millions of dollars he donated to various organisations in support of democracy.
No surprise the fascists hate him.
Soros was 16 years old when he emigrated to the UK, I don’t know if he has retained his Hungarian citizenship; I don’t know why it’s necessary either, but people seem to what to preface Soros’s name with “Hungarian born business man…”, nor “Hungarain citizen…”
I don’t know what circles you move in Hungary or even if you’ve been there in recent years; but I put it to you that 18months ago “the country” either didn’t know who Soros was or spoke of him with some pride.
My two cents worth of comment to this would be that Hungarians better try to grow up and act like adults.
That is forget the past and all its stupidity, as well Soros, Orban and all the rest and get real about life, I mean about the life of ll those that are left behind in that country.
They need a Constitutional Republic, where only the publicly approved Constitution by the population is the supreme, not the will of a small bunch of corrupt politicians.
A Constitution that guarantee every one’s freedom, opportunity by the strict limitation upon the power of the government.
They need a smaller, less expensive and more productive government.
Collectively, they need to stand for a democratic Union of the Nations of Europe. That guarantee the soverignty of every nation, that can work together for the good of all nations and individuals.
All national and Union officials need to elected directly and individually by the population.
The present system, that is the extension of the past in Hungary, and the so called EU, that is only the extension of the Maastrich treaty, that is a commercial deal, does not substitute for a democratic Europe. Not does it satisfy the need of the people of Europe.
… “people of Europe” who allows you to speak for me and all? What do you know about my or others need? Really funny, if you are an European then I can give you an Address of a good Doctor.
Two points:
Hungary does not equal the Orbanist government (voted for by a minority of its citizens).
Secondly, vilification campaigns are not the action of a responsible or indeed, rational government. Putting picture of Soros on the floor of trams so that people could wipe their feet on them did not add to the cause of political discourse in Hungary.
Whether like-minded far-right nutters are influenced by such campaigns to actually take action to *liquidate* the *enemy of the people* is kind of beside the point.
Dear Joe,
You are repeating a well known Fidesz script about anti-Semitism in the EU and try to downplay the appalling institutionalised anti-Semitism of the Orbán government. The fact is that the Jewish community of Belgium (an EU member) protested the invitation of Hungarian Justice Minister Mr. Trócsányi to a conference because of he is an anti-Semite. Read it yourself. http://www.cclj.be/actu/politique-societe/ucl-invite-ministre-hongrois-xenophobe-raciste-et-antisemite
What is going on inside Joes brain he wrote:
„If he/she/zee would have argued that the moon is made of cheese and greedy Orban will steal it and eat it, you would have still agreed with him. It is called ideological bias.“
You see, he did not even understand it.
I have no doubt that they did! I also have no doubt that none of those Jews protesting would dare to put on a kippah and walk around in their own country. And I also have no doubt that none of them are aware that their Jewish brothers and sisters in Hungary are feeling free and safe to live an openly Jewish life in Hungary.
My guess is that their views are formed by the endless propaganda they are bombarded with, telling them that it is not their own progressive policies that are leading to an antisemitism problem in most of Western Europe, but rather that Hungary is the real problem. Proof that propaganda and indoctrination can triumph over facts! Meanwhile, Jews are increasingly leaving Western Europe due to the sorry situation they are increasingly encountering. As I pointed out, about 100x more likely on average to experience an antisemitic attack in most Western countries, compared with Hungary.
“Suggesting a definition of an exodus as 30% of the Jewish population, it said 4% of Jews in Belgium and France had left for Israel between 2010 and 2015.” (In other words not yet as bad as 1930’s)
“According to a report by Human Rights First, antisemitic incidents in France doubled from 423 in 2014 to 851 in 2015 and were becoming increasingly violent.” (37 incidents in Hungary in 2017, in decline, and not much violence)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/12/rise-in-numbers-of-jews-leaving-europe-for-israel-is-not-an-exodus
So what should they really be protesting? Thanks for pointing out how misguided and removed from their own reality some people can be!
Joe, the the hardworking little fan of Orbanistan writes:
“I seem to remember from my history books about a time when everything was the fault of Jews, which ended rather tragically. Now I guess everything has become the fault of Hungarians. Are we the new Jews?”
I am intrigued, that this troll studied history during the Nazi era, and kept his books from those days. It may explain his approach to history, and his fascination with neo-fascists like Viktor Orbán, who decorates Jew haters like his pal Zsolt Bayer.
Joe ! Your adored President, Mr. Áder is the guy who hung the award on the anti-Semitic goon, who lamented publicly about the failure of Admiral Horthy’s men to bury all the Jews of Hungary alive up the their necks in the forest of Orgovány. Google it. Mr Áder, Orbán and all of their lackeys here, and anywhere in the world deserve nothing but contempt from all those who respect justice and civility. Joe – you belong on an Animal Farm, along with the other “pigs”.
Andras, I am truly intrigued by the fact you are an academic, yet your reading comprehension skills seem to be somewhere near elementary school level. There is nothing in that quote which would suggest that I claimed to have studied history during the Nazi era, because there is no reference to when I studied those books or where. It is a reference to what was in them, nothing more nothing less. My parents were not even born at that time, and most people who did study their history in those times are either dead or in nursing homes by now.
The rest of your rant? Well, I will not google, but take your word for it and condemn it. Yet it changes nothing in regards to my previous comments, because it in no way refutes any of those facts.
And fact is that for most Jews in Western Europe things have become rather difficult, especially for those who out of conviction wish to identify themselves as Jews. Yet I don’t see any evidence of you or any other progressive-globalists here being bothered by those un-refutable facts. In fact, you all continue to support the policies and ideologies that led to the situation. Perhaps, you are all just BSing yourselves into believing it is simply not true. Or perhaps there are some more sinister feelings at play (acceptable collateral damage).
“… Yet it changes nothing in regards to my previous comments, because it in no way refutes any of those facts. …”
… facts really, your facts for example that …
“Andras, I am truly intrigued by the fact you are an academic, yet your reading comprehension skills seem to be somewhere near elementary school level.”
Is this “elementary school level” or “of you or any other progressive-globalists” a fact? I think not. Can you show us, where a liar tells the truth?
Funny life of Jews in Budapest … Orban’s national cleaners are such as the director of the Hungarian Literary Museum Mihály Takaró, he calls himself a professor doctor and tells Nyugat, about the most important pre-war newspaper, that it was a “small-scale Jewish leaflet”. His literary favorites are Albert Wass and Cécile Tormay, an advocate of the Jewish Numerus Clausus, burning admirer Mussolini and court writer Horthys.
Being Jewish in Budapest under Orban is like being homeless, but the missing roof is the civilization of the people. If you meet a Joe there who says it’s better than being gassed, then give him a filler for his nice info.
@ Joe
I hate to deflate your ego, Joey, but I am not intrigued by you. When you proclaim, that my “reading comprehension skills seem to be somewhere near elementary school level” I am greatly reassured. You are a fool that should be treated as one. Keep on diggin’, Joey, you have nothing to lose but your shovel 🙂
This article appeared in yesterday’s Sydney Morning Herald, (edited version of a story published in the NYT a few months back). It gives a pretty good summation of his (at times less than savoury) rise in in the business world, his philanthropy, his raison d’être.
A good read for anyone not given to accepting unquestioned the increasingly hysterical portrayal of Soros, by sections of the US media and blogoshere since at least the second half of Obama’s admin. and more recently by the Orban admin. as the quintessential bogeyman.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/george-soros-on-the-new-world-disorder-20181030-p50cua.html
“…. he (Soros) also finds himself in the unsettling position of being the designated villain of this anti-globalisation backlash, his Judaism and career in finance rendering him a made-to-order phantasm for reactionaries worldwide.”
I was aware that Soros had contributed to Fidesz during it’s formative years; hardly a surprise given the platform of the party at the time. I was not aware that Orban had benefited personally.
“In the late 1980s, he (Soros) provided dozens of Eastern European students with scholarships to study in the West, with the aim of fostering a generation of liberal democratic leaders. One of those students was Viktor Orban, who studied civil society at Oxford.”
You don’t need to adopt ludicrous claims that Soros was an informant, ( the basis for this is addressed in the article, he was 13 at the time, that should be enough), if you want something from his past as a stick to beat him with. This is one example; pretty damning in my view.
“…in 1997, when Quantum (Soros’s hedge fund) was at the centre of a speculative attack on the Thai baht. The episode was a nearly identical reprise of what happened to the British pound. (Quantum made roughly $US750 million this time.) There was one critical difference, however: while Britain was a major industrialised country that ultimately had little trouble absorbing the blow to its currency, Thailand was an emerging economy for which the consequences were devastating. Economic output plunged, banks and businesses folded and huge numbers of people were thrown out of work.”