Magyar Nemzet urges swifter action against anti-Semitism

The main pro-government daily castigates right-wing politicians for their mild reaction to an anti-Semitic speech by a Jobbik MP and calls on the government and the right wing in general “to wake up.”

In an angry Magyar Nemzet editorial, Zsuzsanna Körmendy severely criticises State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Zsolt Német for missing an opportunity to give “a manly reply” in Parliament to Jobbik MP Márton Gyöngyösi, who demanded on Monday this week that a survey be made of Jews in Parliament and in government, “who represent a national security risk”. (See BudaPost, November 28). She also asks why all MPs did not immediately walk out in protest against such language, all the more so since similar incidents had already taken place in Parliament: “What are they waiting for? … Does Jobbik have to demand the gas bill for Auschwitz,” before they decide to act? – Körmendy asks. She also suspects that Jobbik is acting as a proxy for unspecified foreign powers, for “it is easy to guess whose hands their provocations play into.” Körmendy condemns the critics of the government at home and abroad who “were only too happy to be given an opportunity to denigrate Hungarians.” “Enough Jew-bashing!” Körmendy exclaims. “Blearily listening to Nazi speech,” she concludes, “is not an exercise in democracy.”

Tags: anti-Semitism, Jobbik, racism