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Hungary’s Orban visits Jerusalem Jewish shrine
JERUSALEM, July 20, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban
on Friday ended a brief but controversial trip to Israel with a visit to a
major Jewish shrine in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.
Wearing a dark hat in accordance with Jewish practice which says that men
must not go bare-headed, Orban arrived at the Western Wall –0 the holiest
place at which Jews are allowed to pray — accompanied by its rabbi Shmuel
Rabinowitz.
He placed a note in a crack between the wall’s massive stones in keeping
with the tradition of slipping written prayers or requests in between the
stones that Jews believe were a supporting wall of their biblical second
temple.
The Hungarian premier, who arrived on Wednesday evening, has been accused
of fanning anti-Jewish sentiment back home.
“Europe’s Most Extreme Nationalist Leader Visits the Jewish People’s
Nation-state,” the left-leaning Haaretz daily said in an analysis published
Friday, in reference to a contentious law passed Thursday by the Israeli
parliament.
The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seen as the most
right-wing in the country’s history pushed hard for the law which defines
Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people.
Israeli Arab lawmakers and Palestinians called the law “racist” and said
it legalised “apartheid”.
Orban and Netanyahu greeted each other warmly when they met in Jerusalem
on Thursday.
“I can assure the prime minister that Hungary has a policy of zero
tolerance towards anti-Semitism,” Orban said
His host defended the visitor against accusations of stoking anti-
Semitism.
“I heard you speak as a true friend of Israel about the need to combat
anti-Semitism,” Netanyahu said, noting that Hungary has spent millions of
dollars renovating synagogues.
Orban, who described Netanyahu and himself as “a Jewish patriot and a
Hungarian patriot”, lauded cooperation between the two nations.
In a break with protocol for EU leaders, who usually visit Palestinian
president Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah during such trips, Orban did not meet the
Palestinian leader.
Netanyahu has sought closer ties with European nations willing to provide
strong backing to Israel at the United Nations and in the European Union.
Hungary in December abstained when the UN General Assembly voted
overwhelmingly to reject the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
It also joined the Czech Republic and Romania in blocking an EU statement
criticising Washington’s decision to move its Israel embassy to Jerusalem.
“You have stood up for Israel time and time again in international
forums,” Netanyahu said.
“It is deeply appreciated, and it is important.”
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1423 hrs