Hungarian MEP: Rising Antisemitism Fueled by Illegal Immigration
by Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.Hungarian European Parliamentarian Balázs Hidvéghi declared this week that “radical Muslim antisemitism” is on the rise in Europe thanks to massive illegal immigration.
Speaking in Strasbourg in a Parliamentary discussion on antisemitism, Mr. Hidvéghi insisted Europe must have “zero tolerance for antisemitism,” noting that this is the only suitable stance after the Second World War.
“There is full social and political consensus on this issue in Hungary,” said the MEP. “Members of the Jewish community live in safety, practice their religion and live their identities. Ensuring this is not only a constitutional obligation but also a moral obligation.”
Hidvéghi said the situation in Hungary stands in contrast to much of Western Europe, where waves of Muslim immigration have been accompanied by growing violence against Jews.
“We are proud to be flourishing in Hungary and today experiencing a renaissance of Jewish culture, with Jewish people and families feeling safe and caring for their heritage,” Hidvéghi said. “In contrast, violence and attacks against Jewish communities in Western Europe are on the rise.”
“While all such attacks must be firmly condemned and rejected, it must also be talked about that the emergence and spread of radical Muslim antisemitism in Europe contributes to the rise of anti-Semitic attacks,” he said.
“Attacks against Western European Jewry are therefore another reason for taking decisive action against illegal migration,” he concluded.
Mr. Hidvéghi’s remarks coincide with the analysis of David P. Goldman, who in a 2018 “Spengler” essay asserted Hungary stands out as uniquely safe for Jews, due in large part to its refusal to accept immigration quotas from the European Union.
While elsewhere in Europe Muslim migrants “are the sole source of violent attacks on Jews,” Hungary’s immigration policy makes it distinctly safe for Jews, he said.
“There are no risks to Jews because there are very few Muslim migrants,” Mr. Goldman stated bluntly.
“Hungary is the safest European country for Jews, with no antisemitic violence of any kind in recent years,” he said.
Jewish life isn’t just flourishing in Budapest, Goldman wrote, it’s “roaring,” and on any given Friday evening, Budapest’s synagogue hosts some two hundred people for dinner. About 100,000 Israelis have dual Hungarian citizenship and many Israelis own property in the country and vote in Hungarian elections.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán looks to Israel as an example, Goldman asserted, since Hungary is a small nation at risk of “demographic extinction” during the next century, and Israel is a small nation that has maintained its identity despite enormous forces against it.
Israel, Goldman declares, “should be a beacon for nations that are struggling to maintain their identity and cohesion against a demographic ebb-tide and against the pressures of globalization.”
According to the National Bureau of Vigilance Against Antisemitism, more than half of the incidents of antisemitism in France, and nearly all the violent ones, are perpetrated by immigrants from Muslim countries or their descendants, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported last year.