Far-right Hungarian premier Viktor Orbán has claimed that his refusal to help Ukraine is a “pro-peace position.” Yet Hungary is also the only EU state that openly backs an Israeli attack on Rafah — showing the hypocrisy of Orbán’s supposed pacifism.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, and Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s prime minister, arrive at news conference in Budapest, Hungary, on Wednesday, July 19, 2017. (Akos Stiller / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
For almost two years, European Union (EU) leaders have chided Hungarian premier Viktor Orbán for his willingness to block critical aid to Ukraine. The divide between Hungary and the EU has only grown since the Financial Times reported that Brussels was ready to hit Hungary’s economy if Orbán vetoed another aid package for Kyiv. In domestic propaganda, Orbán’s support for Vladimir Putin is framed as a sensible “pro-peace” position. Yet the apocalyptic destruction of Gaza proves what a farce this supposed stance really is. Hungary is the only EU member state that hasn’t called on Israel to halt its planned ground offensive in Rafah.
It seems like Orbán is content with the indiscriminate bombing of refugee camps, hospitals, ambulances, residential buildings, schools, universities, libraries, and religious sites, so long as the victims are Palestinians. Orbán has, indeed, repeatedly called for a cease-fire in Ukraine but refused to call for one in Gaza. At the United Nations, Hungary consistently votes “No” to resolutions protecting civilians in Gaza and calling for a cease-fire — one of a handful of states to take this line.
Across Europe, millions of people are protesting against Israel, and human rights organizations warn that Israel may be committing war crimes and genocide. The October 7 attacks cannot possibly justify such Israeli retaliation, which has now killed well over 30,000 people. Yet Orbán’s support for Benjamin Netanyahu is steadfast. After the latest International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling and desperate warnings by human rights experts, even Western states are toning down earlier uncritical support for Israel. But Hungary doesn’t seem to be qualifying its support for Tel Aviv just yet.
It’s an indefensible moral failure. Shamefully, it’s one shared by both Orbán’s government and the mainstream opposition.
Laundering Antisemitism
In February 2023, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem were hit by a wave of anti-government protests demanding Netanyahu’s resignation. Orbán’s face appeared alongside Putin’s on posters highlighting Netanyahu’s bond with other far-right, authoritarian leaders. Orbán and Netanyahu have, indeed, formed a strong alliance over the years. This may seem contradictory in light of the antisemitic national campaigns in Hungary demonizing George Soros, a Hungarian businessman of Jewish origin. The government’s domestic propaganda is based on antisemitic conspiracy theories blaming Soros and the “globalists” for driving illegal migration and “woke” ideology. This alliance only makes sense if we understand the positive relationship between the Zionist state and antisemitic far-right actors across the world.
It has become routine for far-right politicians and corporate leaders to launder their images as antisemites in Israel in exchange for public endorsement of the Zionist colonial project. In November 2023, left-wing Jewish groups protested the hypocrisy of Marine Le Pen’s strong pro-Israel stance. Activists argued that Le Pen is only trying to run cover for her Islamophobia and obscure her party’s shameful antisemitic past. Just recently, Elon Musk visited Israel and had a friendly meeting with Netanyahu, as advertisers were threatening to boycott X (formerly Twitter) over Musk’s endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy theory. Argentina’s recently elected far-right president, Javier Milei, also rushed to Jerusalem after Jewish organizations expressed frustration over his decision to give a top legal role to Rodolfo Barra, who had ties to violent neo-Nazi groups.
It has become routine for far-right politicians to launder their images as antisemites in Israel in exchange for public endorsement of the Zionist colonial project.
After the fall of the first Orbán government way back in 2002, his Fidesz party has sought to retouch an image tainted by antisemitism, which has become increasingly inconvenient for Western partners. Like other Eastern European countries, Hungary’s right had a long-standing tradition of rampant antisemitism. Partly because of this, Orbán traveled to Israel in 2005 and developed a strong friendship with Netanyahu. The two had seemed to find common ground in their ambitions to build small but strong ethnonationalist states driven by identity politics, ethnic supremacy, and obsession with birth rates. This partnership has been mutually beneficial ever since.
Since the so-called migrant crisis of 2015, Orbán tuned up racism and Islamophobia in Hungary to demonize all Arab and Muslim people. By presenting Islam as an existential threat to Western civilization, Orbán decided to adopt Zionist propaganda lines — also known as hasbara — which sought to stigmatize and criminalize pro-Palestine solidarity movements. In fact, Orbán is one of the only leaders in the EU who has banned all Palestine-related demonstrations in his country since the Hamas attacks.
Furthermore, Orbán used this opportunity to push more anti-immigration rhetoric and ludicrous characterizations of the EU itself. In November 2023, Hungary launched the latest “national consultation,” a government initiative to solicit public feedback on various issues. The consultation included a question directed at the Hungarian people asking them whether or not they support the EU’s funding of humanitarian organizations (such as the UNRWA, United Nations Relief and Works Agency) that supposedly sustain “terrorists” in Palestine. The government is still trying to spin the narrative to present the EU as a terrorism-enabling establishment, and advocates for cutting all aid to humanitarian organizations that could ease the suffering in Gaza.
Foreign Policy
The allyship between Netanyahu and Orbán has influenced both their foreign policies. In recent years, Orbán has formed a stronger alliance with the American right and the GOP. Ever since Tucker Carlson interviewed Orbán in Budapest back in 2021, the former Fox host has looked at Orbán’s strong anti-immigration policies as a source of inspiration. The Fidesz party even hosts CPAC Hungary every year, one of the largest gatherings for conservatives in Europe. Netanyahu purportedly had a role in brokering this positive relationship between Fidesz and the American right, which is known for its strong pro-Israel line and Christian Zionist base.
As a way of returning the favor, Orbán was instrumental in bringing Netanyahu closer to the Visegrád Group (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia) to promote Zionism and Islamophobia in Central-Eastern Europe. Left-wing Jewish groups were quick to point out the contradictions of Netanyahu forming alliances with right-wing leaderships with shameful histories of antisemitism. Still, Netanyahu was convinced that the Left is becoming increasingly anti-Zionist and critical of Israel, so it makes more sense to form alliances with the far right. Netanyahu correctly understands that racism and Islamophobia are the driving forces today that can recruit people for supporting the Zionist project. In fact, the Visegrád24 official accounts — run by Orbán’s Polish nationalist allies — have become primary sources of anti-Palestinian racism and anti-Muslim bigotry across social media in the region.
Despite Orbán’s determination to promote Zionism in Hungary, it’s still a hard sell to his own voters. This is mainly because the Hungarian right has a long-standing tradition of antisemitism and hostile attitudes toward Israel, while liberals more are strongly Zionist. In the post-1989 era, the ruling liberal camp had become explicitly Zionist as a form of “de-socialization” reacting against the Hungarian Socialist Party’s anti-Zionism. There was a strong — fetishizing— support for Israel that is still rampant among the older liberal intelligentsia. In Hungarian liberal media, censorship regarding any criticism of Israel and its treatment of the Palestinian people is akin to the silencing of debate in Germany. But on the Right, a certain contrarianism and a strong anti-American sentiment have fed criticism of Israel. According to various polls, Hungary is the only EU country where a majority of people have an unfavorable opinion about the United States and American hegemony.
Netanyahu correctly understands that racism and Islamophobia are the driving forces today that can recruit people for supporting the Zionist project.
Furthermore, Orbán’s foreign policy is shaped by his openness to the East — driven not by ideological affinities, or still less human rights issues, but by simple power politics. He is trying to balance positive diplomatic ties with such varied states as Azerbaijan, China, Qatar, Russia, and Turkey. The Hamas attack on October 7 put Orbán in a delicate situation in this sense. Naturally, he expressed his solidarity with the Israeli people and support for Netanyahu, but he has been rather silent ever since. Joe Biden, Ursula von der Leyen, Olaf Scholz, and Rishi Sunak rushed to Tel Aviv after October 7 to reaffirm their support for Netanyahu; Orbán stayed away. Many were surprised: it could be imagined that he would pay a visit to Israel as one of Netanyahu’s key allies in the EU. Orbán’s foreign secretary, Péter Szijjártó, travelled to Jerusalem in January to reaffirm Hungary’s support for Israel’s right “to defend itself,” but he also emphasized opposition to any regional escalation in the Middle East. Still, Szijjártó’s official social media accounts were flooded with thousands of angry comments expressing fury over the government’s unwillingness to address the genocide in Gaza.
While the Hungarian government’s official communications are shaped by “pro-peace” messages and calls for a cease-fire in Ukraine, they don’t have the same approach to Gaza. Rather, the Israeli government singled out Hungary for praise — for not opposing the IDF’s planned ground offensive in Rafah, where 1.5 million civilians are today trapped with nowhere to flee. This only proves that Orbán’s antiwar position on Ukraine is mere theatrics, amounting to nothing more than a call for Ukraine to surrender on Russia’s terms.
Loud for Ukraine, Silent for Palestine
Orbán’s liberal opposition had a historic opportunity to confront the prime minister with his hypocrisy and disgraceful ties to war criminal Netanyahu — they decided not to. Why? Because they themselves approve of the carnage in Gaza.
After Putin’s criminal invasion of Ukraine, Hungary’s opposition was quick to denounce the attack and adopted the same attitude toward Russia as EU leaders in general. However, while this solidarity with Ukraine was welcome, they have not extended the same grace to the non-white victims of other conflicts. Indeed, already by the time of Hungary’s 2022 general elections, the united opposition announced that they would not remove Orbán’s border fence and pledged to be just as hard on immigration as the current establishment. The liberal camp has fully embraced double standards regarding who’s worthy of asylum, compassion, and humane treatment. This same double standard severely undermines the EU’s reputation and credibility about human rights on the global stage.
Budapest’s left-leaning Green mayor, Gergely Karácsony, called a solidarity demonstration for Ukraine on the two-year anniversary of the Russian invasion last month, because “Budapest is not a place where we turn a blind eye to the suffering of others.” Yet Budapest has not only turned a blind eye to the suffering in Gaza, but actively supports it. District town halls still have “We stand with Israel” banners up, despite that country being charged with genocide and grave human rights violations. Karácsony reaffirmed his support for Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people at a rally organized by ultra-Zionist groups on Budapest’s Theodor Herzl Square, right before South Africa presented its historic case against Israel at the ICJ. This is not only a poor decision diplomatically; it is morally indefensible to officially side with the actor charged with potential crimes against humanity. The mayor and the opposition also refused to challenge Orbán’s ban on Palestine-related demonstrations — so much for defending fundamental freedoms.
Trailblazing Romani activists in Hungary have been vocal about their solidarity with Palestine, drawing parallels between their treatment in Europe and the segregation, colonization, and apartheid experienced by the Palestinian people. As voices of solidarity and compassion emerged from marginalized groups in Hungary, they were shunned and smeared by the liberal opposition — which showed similar tactics and attitudes as the ruling party they want to oust. Articles explaining settler colonialism in Palestine have been censored in opposition media, and independent left-wing outlets report pressure and intimidation to remove content humanizing the Palestinian people. We could equally cite the case of Boldizsár Nagy — editor of the iconic A Fairytale for Everyone, an inclusive children’s book that has become the international symbol of the fight for LGBTQ+ rights in Hungary. The problem is, he is also a prominent Hungarian advocate for Palestinian human rights. He has, accordingly, been smeared and censored for writing about the colonization of Palestine.
Most of the world is concerned by the censorship and growing intellectual provincialism in Germany. But Hungary is also going down the same road. The opposition’s refusal to call for a cease-fire or even to stand up for humanitarian law is not only morally wrong — it also undermines the liberal camp’s credibility in countering authoritarianism. It means emboldening Orbán and Netanyahu, who see their silence as a green light to commit and support further atrocities.