In addition, he points to their polls in which they showed that while the ratio of anti-semitic-leaning voters of the other parties range between 15-40%, in the case of Jobbik, it fluctuated around 60-70%, something that hasn’t changed in the last five years. In reference to Jobbik, Köves admits that Jobbik moved towards the center from 2016 and now declares ifself a people’s party, but he believes Jobbik still lacks explanatory statements about their reasons and distancing statements about earlier “unacceptable” statements and stances, lacking visible efforts to change from the grassroots. Nevertheless, besides the aid of the Hungarian and Israeli governments, and being in close cooperation with the Hungarian police, both major Jewish communities have their own guarding system, including their own security staff, camera surveillance systems, and emergency rooms to be prepared for anything that can happen, Köves revealed. On the other hand, Hungary is still a country where a large part of the population does believe in the antisemitic ideology, something however, which is not specific to Hungarians, he argues.
He notes that while in many parts of the world Jewish people often need a survival strategy when going out on the streets, this is not the case in Hungary.
Köves’ claims, in response to a question about regular Western reports on Hungarian anti-semitism. Hungary is not an anti-semitic country and is probably the safest place at the moment in Europe to be Jewish,” However, it’s worrisome, the rabbi pointed out, that moderate anti-semites are shifiting towards the extreme, something that Köves attributes to the emergence of the Jobbik party, which made far-right feelings more acceptable. Around two-thirds of Hungarian society has no anti-semitic feelings at all. While in year-to-year comparison, the ratio of moderately anti-semites vary between 10-18%, the proportion of those with strong anti-semitic attitudes range between 18-27%. Still, anti-semitic feelings are definitely present in Hungarian society. What is more, neighboring Austria also recorded more cases over previous years. This figure is considerably better than similar data of Western countries (the Netherlands, France, US, or Great Britain). In 2019, for example, TVA listed only 35 cases of anti-semitic incidents in Hungary, meaning 3.5 cases per million inhabitants. The third being education (programs, textbooks, courses), which Köves deems the most important.Ĭoncerning Hungarian anti-semitic tendencies, Hungary definitely counts as safe in international comparison, Köves says. Research and monitoring comes next, something that they lately extended to eight more countries.
FactThe organization’s activities are centered around three pillars, the first providing legal protection and aid for victims, or in connection with Holocaust denial cases, or making documents to help change in legislation.
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