Netanyahu brings a Kosher stamp for Orbán
Benjamin Netanyahu visited Budapest and was received with full honors. The Hungarian government made it clear that despite the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, of which Hungary (along with all EU member states) is a member, Netanyahu will not be arrested in Hungary. The government also announced that Hungary intends to leave the organization because its existence is pointless.
In this article, I provide some cultural and political background to understand the significance of the visit. We will touch on Eastern European culture, political and cultural anti-semitism, and on obtaining Kosher stamps while conducting covert anti-semitic political campaigns.
Eighty years after the liberation of the concentration camp at Auschwitz, anti-Semitism remains a central issue in Western politics. Benyamin Netanyahu's visit to Budapest sparked debate in Hungary, and the country’s planned exit from the ICC has garnered international attention.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration leans heavily on Columbia University, threatening to withdraw federal funding and demanding a zero-tolerance approach against anti-Semitism.
So, Orbán is a friend of Netanyahu, and Trump is the champion of philosemitism. Why?
I can only see some reasons behind President Trump’s behavior, but I know Viktor Orbán’s motivations.
Is there anti-semitism in Hungary?
The answer to that question is not simple. Violence is very rare. The last anti-Semitic attack occurred more than a decade ago. Holocaust denial is a criminal offense that is taken very seriously. I believe wearing a traditional Jewish outfit in Budapest is safer than in Berlin.
Orbán’s propaganda recognizes this, and anti-Semitic attacks perpetrated by Muslim immigrants in Western European countries get a lot of airtime in the news.
But Central Europe is the birthplace of anti-Semitism. Most of the Holocaust occurred here. Auschwitz is in southeastern Poland, less than 200 km from the Hungarian border. Most of the Jews killed there were taken from Hungary. Anti-Semitism has very deep cultural roots, and any Eastern European intellectual can use and recognize anti-Semitic coded language.
Double (or triple or quadruple) meaning is big in Eastern European culture, but anti-Semitic discourse is when it gets really complicated for outsiders to understand. It’s like the famous Chinese poem about the lion, where all you hear is “Shi,” while a Chinese speaker hears a whole story. Hungarians (Slovaks and Czechs and Poles) can tell a story about a small grocery shop not stocking oranges or about a man finding a wallet on Thursday. They are talking about Jews, only in code talk.
Is all the code talk anti-Semitic? Definitely not. For some, it might be, and for others, it might even be funny. A lot of that depends on the situation and the people using and hearing the coded words. The story about the wallet could be a joke or a racist slur. It’s a bit like carefully avoiding the N-word in the US while still being racist.
But how does this translate in politics?
The "Jewish question”
In Central Europe, where much of the Holocaust occurred, politicians still grapple with the “Jewish question. " While largely obscured by decades of cultural shifts, antisemitism is still there in the back of many peoples’ minds.
One can still carve out a political career here through either veiled or overt antisemitism. However, mainstream politicians must make symbolic gestures and condemn the governments of the Holocaust era. These governments relied on nationalism, so the life of an Eastern European politician, especially for a right-winger, is a constant balancing act between cautiously aligning with the interwar leader and condemning the Holocaust.
We even have a (rather crude) symbol of this balancing act in Budapest, the “Memorial for Victims of the German Occupation."
This controversial memorial frames the Holocaust as a consequence of the German occupation of Hungary. The fact is that by the time the Germans occupied us, there were already three “Jewish laws” ousting Jews from business and the public sector, forbidding them to marry non-Jewish individuals, etc. Adolf Eichmann, later tried, convicted, and executed for the Hungarian Holocaust in Israel, had a few dozen German associates; most of the Holocaust was carried out by the Hungarian authorities.
This memorial is there to blame the Germans so the Hungarian government could use the rhetorics and cultural symbols of the interwar era.
In this regard, Orbán is in a unique situation. The Jewish intellectual elite of Hungary primarily consists of Budapest liberals who have not forgotten Orbán’s past forays into antisemitism. While Orbán has always refrained from making any remarks that could be considered even remotely antisemitic, he has had coalition partners in the past who spoke of “worms” and “hawks” preying on our nation, which serves as another example of antisemitic dog-whistle rhetoric.
Look at these two pictures.
One of them is anti-semitic propaganda from 1939, showing one of the oldest anti-semitic stereotypes, the “ugly old Jew”. Over the nice buildings, it says “Ours” (the Jews’); over the small hut, it says “Yours” (Hungarians). The other is from a nationwide billboard campaign of the Hungarian Government in 2017, showing George Soros and saying, “Don’t let Soros have the last laugh”. The graffiti makes the resemblance more direct, saying “Stinkin’ Jew“
Always the shrewd political operator, Orbán recognized that maintaining good relations with Netanyahu’s government could be beneficial.
Having a populist right-wing prime minister in Israel presents an opportunity for both Trump and Orbán. Hungary is facing deep economic trouble due to Orbán's policies, and the USA is headed in the same direction if the trade wars continue. In this situation, both of them will resort to a blame game, and “liberal elites” will be on the top of their list.
But can the “liberal elites” accuse Orbán of antisemitism when his propaganda machine will again blame the “internatioanl elites” for Hungary’s troubles? Surely they can.
But with the Prime Minister of Israel in Budapest and the Star of David proudly flying on the Elisabeth Bridge?
Netanyahu wants to break out from political isolation, Orbán wants a Kosher stamp
Orbán gets a Kosher stamp before his propaganda machine plunges again in a “anti-internationalist” campaign.
Netanyahu can show defiance towards the ICC which Hungary has just left for this very event. He can also hope for other EU invitations on the lung run.
Orbán hopes to score some points with Trump because he fears that the State Department will stomp on him for his Chinese and Russian ties.
There is no risk for Netanyahu.
There are risks for Orbán. He makes Hungary the only EU country not in the ICC and exposes Hungary for retaliation by Hamas and Iran.
But such petty things like national interest and sanity never bothered him. Well, not just him, if you get my double meaning. If not, stay tuned for the next posts and you will get the hang of it.