Monday, August 6, 2012

"Hungarian Far-Right Lawmaker Meets Rabbi after Discovering Jewish Roots"

From Emerging Europe:
A Hungarian politician formerly from a far-right party seen as xenophobic has met Hungary’s chief orthodox rabbi after going public with his Jewish roots.

In a June interview, Csanad Szegedi said his grand-parents were orthodox Jews, an announcement that stirred emotions among Hungarian politicians and supporters of Jobbik, a far-right party that defines itself as radical and has 45 seats in Hungary’s 386-seat parliament.

Some of the Jobbik party’s messages have been considered anti-Semitic. Jobbik MP Zsolt Barath caused outrage in Hungary when in an April speech in parliament he commemorated the 130th anniversary of the Tiszaeszlar blood libel, seen as one of the first anti-Semitic events in modern-era Hungary. “It was an objective speech and Mr. Barath was well prepared. There will be no apology, no resignation,” Jobbik vice-president Elod Novak said at the time....MORE
 Here are some members of Hungary's third largest political party: