At the opening of the 14th Plenary Assembly of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) on May 5 in Budapest, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán insisted that there would be "zero tolerance" for antisemitism, at a time when a growing number of incidents targeting Hungary’s Jewish community have have been reported in recent months.
Israeli Energy Minister, Silvan Shalom, described Orbán’s speech as a “clear and strong message to the Hungarian Jewish community and to the extremists.” However, the response from the WJC was more critical. In particular it noted that the prime minister “did not allude to any specific racist or antisemitic incidents, nor did he clearly define the difference between the government and the far right fringe.”
On the day before the opening, 500 people took part in a demonstration organised by the far right party Jobbik to pay homage to the "victims of Zionism and Bolshevism" and to protest against "the Israeli plot against Hungary."
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