European Jewish Congress President Dr. Moshe Kantor slammed Hungarian Member of Parliament Marton Gyongyosi from the extreme anti-Semitic Jobbik party, when he suggested that a survey should be created to count the amount of Jews in Hungary, especially in parliament and government, because they pose a security threat.
“This suggestion is reminiscent of the “selection” which took place in Nazi concentration camps where people would be divided into the desirable and the less desirable who should be dispensed with because they were a threat” Kantor said. “This has broken all lows for the Jobbik party and their party should be shunned in Hungary and proscribed in the European Parliament where they have representation.”
After Gyongyosi’s remarks, none of the Hungarian MPs left the chamber or attempted to silence the outrageous remarks. The Speaker of the House did not mute his microphone and did not discipline him either; in fact, his remarks received a gentle applause.
“These remarks present an important challenge for the Hungarian and European Parliament. Either they place boundaries on hate-speech and incitement to violence within representative parties in their parliaments or it will lose its moral compass” Kantor continued. “We demand outrage from senior Hungarian and European Union officials after these comments. Refraining from a wide scale outrage will leave the Jewish community feeling there is acquiescence that this constitutes acceptable speech and parliamentary conduct.”
“The increase in physical attacks on Jews in Hungary, we believe, is directly related to not only the rise of Jobbik, but also the lack of condemnation for their statements and actions.”
Based in Brussels, the European Jewish Congress is the representative umbrella organisation of national Jewish communities. It federates democratically elected national Jewish community organisations in over 40 European countries uniting 2.5 million Jews across the continent.
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