The foreign minister has reacted to comments by Germany’s Minister of State Michael Roth in which he accused Hungary of anti-Semitism. Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said the Jewish community is safe in Hungary.
“Our Jewish compatriots have no reason to be afraid,” Minister Szijjártó said. “Their cultural festivals don’t require the presence of soldiers armed to the teeth, their synagogues and cemeteries were rebuilt with state funding and we were the proud hosts of the European Maccabi Games last year.”
The minister said he had “engaged in many fierce debates” with Roth between 2012 and 2014 when they were both foreign ministry state secretaries. “Roth took every opportunity he got to attack Hungary and Poland,” he said. “And does so to this day.” “So his attacks tend to go ignored these days,” he said, adding that Roth had now accused Hungary of something “that can’t go unanswered”.
Minister Szijjártó called on Roth to “stop making demeaning attacks on Hungary” and recommended that the minister of state “take a look around his own backyard” the next time he addressed “such a serious issue”.
The German ambassador has been summoned to the foreign ministry by Monday.