BUDAPEST — Seventy years ago, János Fónagy would be a dead man for calling out the anti-Semitic virulence of his detractors in the Hungarian Parliament. Modern Hungary is a very different beast.
“We must not fear them; fear is their political capital,” Fónagy (pronounced fone-adge) — a Jewish Hungarian politician who survived the tyrannical Fascist and Communist regimes that ruled his country for decades — said of the extreme right-wing Jobbik party.
Days after Israel’s November campaign against terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip, Jobbik politician Marton Gyöngyösi said it was “timely to tally up people of Jewish ancestry who live here, especially in the Hungarian Parliament and the Hungarian government, who, indeed, pose a national security risk to Hungary.”
Fónagy, who currently serves as the parliamentary secretary of the Ministry of National Development, responded in parliament: ”My mother and father were Jewish, and so am I, whether you like it or not. I cannot choose, I was born into this.” Turning to the Jobbik party he said, ”But you can choose, and you have chosen this path [of anti-Semitism]. Bear history’s judgment.”
FULL ARTICLE HERE: Don't fear Hungary's radical anti-Semitic party, Jewish MP urges | The Times of Israel
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