Analysis / Hungary free speech leaves room for Nazi songs

Not all Hungarians are like 'Hungarian' in this Talkback. I, for one, despise the Jobbik and its antisemitic, anti-gypsy, 'magyarkodo' rhetoric. It's shameful that so many Hungarians voted for this party. The explanation is complex: my guess is that it's a mixture of age-old antisemitism, frustrated nationalism, heavy economical problems (for which, of course, somebody else needs to be blamed), self-pity, some particularities of the Hungarian national character, and many other factors. Anyway, if somebody wants to read an account of Jewish fate in WW2 Hungary, I can recommend the book 'Fatelessness' (Sorstalansag) by Nobel Prize winning author Imre Kertesz.

Hungarian , What the occupation has to do with Hungarian antisemitism ? Because I experiences open antisemitism there before any occupation . I would love to hear this one from you .

So you do not have to introduce Hungary to me . Hungarians deported my parents to Auschwitz and made sure that every Jew in the family is accounted for . When Russian tanks entered Hungary in 1956 we were actually happy because the Hungarian fight for freedom , that we initially supported , turned into an antisemitic orgy . And now again , the freedom brings all the rats out of hiding . And there are too many of those .

550000 died in the catastrophe.if that was not a lesson what would a lesson take?

Your posts are the perfect example of how the internet allows people of no culture to fall prey of manipulators of the worst kind (in this case, Hungarian fascists). I just googled the Peres speech you mention and found a video of it. Do you understand Hebrew? I doubt it. Peres was talking about the new anti-Semites and he ironically said: "If I listen to these people, I see that we're buying Manhattan, we're buying Hungary, we're buying Poland.." All Jobbik had to do was edit out the words before the 40 seconds they needed and voila', Swiss Dino posts on Haaretz that Peres is bragging about the new Jewish power in the world. Pitiful, but it evidently works..

placing a cover over a sewer will change nothing.let them have their say and let us not fool ourselves. would paying hungarians make them think differently of us?so why do we think paying arabs would have that effect?

your antisemitism - it is expected. It is better than hiding ...

"Freedom of speech, which Hungary's Europhile Supreme Court holds in high esteem, allows these forms of expression to flourish and take root, while both legal and bureaucratic obstacles have prevented authorities from closing down the site." It is indeed a sad day when a supreme court holds freedom of speech in high esteem... Would the author care to inform me what purpose the word "Europhile" serves in the quoted sentence? Does the author by any chance know that the court is "Europhilic"? And if that is the case does the author think that the court's supposed "Europhilia" is what causes freedom of speech to exist? Just as a FYI: the author might like to note that Hungary actually is in Europe, it is part of the EU as well. It seems strange to label anyone in such a country Europhilic. OK, enough ranting about xenophobic remarks. Jobbik is obviously a very scary party. Even more so than the Israeli right, which is quite a feat. Its scapegoating of Gypsies and Jews is appalling.

The issue that "Hungarian" has to deal with - and his co-citizens - is their failure to acknowledge their own disgraceful active involvement in the murder of their "own" Hungarian Jews. I note on various websites that "Zsidok" (Jews) is still too aften followed by "utalunk" (we hate (them)). As erdekes and sajatos (interesting, peculiar) as his nyelv (language) and tarsadalom (culture, societyis, resurgent Hungarian hazaszeretet (patriotism) is becoming more and more ridiculous. An able nation that disgraced itself in many ways in WW2, redeemed itself latterly in the 8o's and 90's has fallen on foolish times. Hungarians should stop giving them selves airs - they are not, coldly, that important. They should be happy they are safe and ensconced within the EU. They have a verb that means to clarify or explain which has the form to "hungarify", or "hungarize" (magyarazni) Sadly, hungarifying clearly just means to render something delusional, aggressive, dark, pointless! Jo napot!

I pray to see the day Israel gives up Gaza and the West Bank and for Palestine to finally be a free land with the Palestinians fiancing construction food shipments, electricity, movement, peace, agriculture, cell phone service, education and most of all construction of new cities by themselves, Because for some apparent reason Israel pay's for almost everything that goes on in both places and does not even collect taxes on Palestinians or even Israeli Arab's. If you would come to Israel you would find that Israeli Arab's love living in Israel because they live better that Israeli Jew's. It's just about that time for Israel to get out destroy all the houses they built in the West Bank and give the Palestinians there land and then on top of that give them A billion Dollars in "Restitiution" we will see what will happen to that money in a year.

Sam Ahmed: Bravo!!!

....but Shimon Peres remarks during his speech in Tel Aviv were reflected in one of the main slogans of the Jobbik party during the election campaign ("we will not allow foreigners/Jews to buy up our whole country..."). Sorry to say, but this was a classic case of an Israeli politician, massively furthering already existing anti-Jewish sentiments/ stereotypes.... ....and it wasn't even an extreme right- winger this time.

The purpose of this article is to address "the horror of free speech" to explain why Israel doesn't have free speech(or a constitution, or secular marriage, or jury trials, or the right to see your accusor). The country also undermined the 1st "Basic Law" of the state by banning Norman Finkelstein entry. Israel is a tribal, bolshevik, police state. The Chinese J-10 fighter was engineered by IAI as a make work(money) project....the Hey'l Ha'avir can always get US taxpayer subsidized Brakeets, baraks and ra'ams. We should issue greencards to the Israelis, its in america's best interest to have smart jews in america, not undermining our strategic position by making us a target of irrational, violent muslim extremists. Zion is in Hollywood and South Florida, not the socialist sandbox of the middle east.

I have to admit I don't agree with you. Arabs have had issues with Jewish people but we don't hate them the way you hate them in Europe. Jewish people are hard working decent people. They had a nightmare in Europe, what the Nazis did is not excusable and asking for compensation is not wrong. Yes the Jewish diaspora supports Israel, but this is a normal human reaction, wouldn't you support your family ? No matter how you assess the Holocaust, there can never be a reason to murder so many people. Also, the Hungarians who lost their lives should be remembered by the Hungarian people, this is your duty, you have to keep their memory alive, just as the Jewish people remember their dead.

....but the Shimon Peres speech was one of THE main slogans of the Jobbik party during this election campaign ("We will not allow foreigners to take over our country..."). Sorry to say, but that was an absolute classic of Jews contributing actively and heavily to already existing anti-Jewish stereotypes. There is simply no other way to describe it.

Your advice to the Jews of Hungary that they should try to be "Hungarian Jews" and not "just Jews" was tried before by my family. My father and uncles actually tried to be real Hungarians, were decorated and wounded officers of the Hungarian Army none of which prevented them being delivered to the gas chambers of Aushwitz. From my personal experience I found Hungary a mean spirited society that will continue finding scapegoats for all of its problems.

Speaking of persecution and theft, when will Israel and Israelis make restitution to the Palestinians?

and the issues driving their move forward their Xenophobia is almost as breathtaking as your ignorance about Israel.

I have read many postings on Haaretz,but yours has to be the worst ranting anti-semitic rubbish up to date. The victims of communism in numbers were about 70 million,the families of these people are the ones who have to fight for compensation,what has it got to do with the jews,the jewish community is fighting and has faught for many years,they have never considered themselves above the law. If you want something badly enough,then you have to fight for it and not blame others.

Hungary has not been an important country for 90 Years now since 1918 it went into economic decline. Hungary became Communist in 1949 until 1989, Can you please advise how many total people perished during Communist rule. Go and look about Stalinist Soviet Union trust me the Jewish people know about Communism and Buddy just for your reference Hungary participated in the extinction of the Jewish race. Hungary as Germany stole Jewish earned money, gold and property which a lot was never recovered by families.

and other minorities for their problems.? Which Hungarian Jews claim to be above the law? Any verifiable quote will do. Nobody is denying what the Communists did, plenty are denying what the Nazis did. Hatred of Israel was fostered under the communists and though I havent bothered to read any papers in Hungarian for a while if they are anything like the majority of the European media,misleading headlines and half the story is the order of the day.

That was the funniest comment I have heard in a long time. You cannot be serious to say that the Communist's did more harm to the people of Hungary then Hitler did to the Jewish People? First off after WW2 Hungary was by far one of the best living countries in the Eastern Block. The "Jewish" people you know the ones who survived WW2 and ran as East as possible to get away from the Nazi's, Ultra-Crazy Ukrainians and Ultra-Crazy Hungarians who fought against the Soviet Union! Well we and another 4-5 Million Jews ended up living in the Soviet Union during Communism, Please do not think that Hungary lived worse during Communism then the Soviet Union did, You want to talk about Communism well you guys were not controlled by Stalin all you needed to do was purchase goods from the Soviet Union, Yes, Communism was and is a very bad economic system as everyone can tell. But, Don't you ever compare Communism to Nazism, I guess Hungary lived better during the rule of the Nazi's then Communist

What does a political conflict in the Middle East have to do with antisemitism and in general minorities hatred in Hungary? Maybe it's your problem Ivar, who finds in everything which occurs on this planet a connection to Israel? So maybe it's a psychological problem and not a geopolitical one?

Europe's last century history is sad enough and we have to keep alert to prevent it is repeated, not only from Israel, what's so wrong about it?

If you say such stupid things like "Israel would now be wealthy enough to buy Manhattan, Hungary, Poland and Rumania...", then you should not be suprised, if there will be a certain back- lash within those populations against Israel and the Jewish community in general. I first couldn't believe it, when I heard about it, but indeed, that's what he said during a speech in Tel Aviv last year....

Hungarian you are right on one point the victims of Communism do deserve reccognition and support for their ordeal. Stalin and other dictators carried out a silent holocaust that unfortunately not many know about. However you're other points like Jews shouldn't seek restitution are ridiculous. If Hungarian banks and railroads were complicit in the theft of Possesions and Property, and the forced Deportation and subsequent murder of Jews they should be held acocuntable. That is not asking to be above the law that is called JUSTICE.

Jews pushed for a change in the Hungarian law so the Holocaust denial/questioning can be punished with 3 years in prison. Why was it necessary? - asked the public. What about the victims of the Communism? Are they less important - although their number is higher - than the Jews? If you forbid something people will resist especially if they feel less important than - in this case - the Jews. There are new law suits filed against the Hungarian Railway Company and Banks - with ridiculous amount of money - for the involvement of the deportation of the Jews during WWII. These things along with many others and topped with the Israeli politics - which suggests Israel is above any law - don't make the Jews popular in my country. The Hungarian Jewish community could do something to change it. Try to be Hungarian Jew not just Jew and accept that you are not above the law.

Saudi Plan! The ONLY solution. Just to perfection, and generous to a fault!