'Proud Hungarians must prepare for war against the Jews'By Yehuda Lahav
Ha'aretz, 02/06/2009
"Given our current situation, anti-Semitism is not just our right, but it is
the duty of every Hungarian homeland lover, and we must prepare for armed battle
against the Jews."
This quote appeared in a newsletter published by an organization calling
itself "The trade union of Hungarian police officers prepared for action".
Hungarian law allows police officers to organize in trade unions of their
own. The union - by its own definition - aims to protect the professional
interests of those unionized, and not to partake in political activity. However,
the law does not prevent the union from distributing a newsletter, the content
of which is at the discretion of its editor, and its editor alone.
The editor of the "prepared for action" union, Judit Szima (who also serves
as the secretary-general of the union) didn't see anything wrong with the
content of the article quoted above. It is little wonder, given the fact that
the union has signed a cooperation agreement with the radical right wing
Hungarian party "Jobbik" (Movement for better Hungary) which backs and operates
the extremist paramilitary movement "Hungarian Guard" and warns against the
"gypsy crime" - in effect trying to terrorize Hungary's gypsy community, as well
as its Jewish community or anyone else they don't like.
Szima is the Jobbik candidate in the upcoming election for the European Union
parliament, to be held June 7.
She has been removed from her post in the police force ahead of the election,
but continues to serve as the union's secretary general.
The author of the article, which focuses on the duty of every Hungarian
patriot to adopt anti-Semitism, did not stop at one.
The following issue of the newsletter included another of his articles, in
which he argued "I am in favor of peaceful solutions. But a peaceful solution
could only be implemented if our Zionist government were to relocate to Tel
Aviv, as it is them who are calling for war."
"A crumbling country, torn apart by Hungarian-Gypsy civil war, could easily
be claimed by the rich Jews," the article went on to say. "That is why we should
expect a Hungarian-Gypsy civil war, fomented by Jews as they rub their hands
together with pleasure."
This article elicited an official complaint filed with the prosecution,
arguing that it contained incitement against minority groups. The prosecution
rejected the complaint, stating that it did not call for violence against Jews
or Gypsies, but rather called to defend against these groups' probable attack.
The "prepared for action" union affair is a testament to the state of racist
incitement and anti-Semitism in Hungary. It has emerged that the union boasts
more than 4,000 members, some 10 percent of the total number of police officers
in Hungary. It is believed that in Budapest, the capital, the numbers are
higher. This is not to say that all the union members harbor the same racist
views held by its primary spokespeople and leaders - in most cases members join
the union simply to protect their personal rights - but the Hungarian government
and justice system can't, or won't, take action to separate the union's lawful
protection of policemen's rights and its detestable political activities.
For example, after the recent resignation of prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsány,
one of the candidates for the post was Gyorgy Suranyi, formerly the governor of
the Hungarian Central Bank, a brilliant economist, and (unfortunately) a Jew.
The extreme right Hungarian Justice and Life party published on the front
page of its newsletter a picture of Suranyi's face inside a yellow star of David
(reminiscent of the yellow patch from the days of Fascism) with the following
caption: "Suranyi is actually the candidate backed by the elderly [Israeli
President] Shimon Peres. The takeover deal announced by the Israeli leader has
now reached the stage in which a Jewish Hungarian prime minister is required.
The deal has been in the works for many months." (The Forum referred to the
unfortunate remark made by Peres recently, when he described the success of
Israel's economy by saying "we are buying out Manhattan, Poland, Hungary...")
One of the two main reasons for the Hungarian authorities' failure in the
face of racism and anti-Semitism is the fact that there are many right-wing
elements within the government, who secretly or outright support the racist
views and refuse to battle their perpetrators seriously. The other reason is
that during the regime change of the 90s, the lawmakers viewed freedom of speech
and expression as an absolute priority, and to this day don't provide protection
to the victims of the misuse of this freedom
