After meeting his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, Defense Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky said Hungary stands by its allies in difficult times.
Minister Szalay-Bobrovniczky said the purpose of his meeting was to personally express the Hungarian government’s solidarity with the Jewish state following October’s terrorist attack by Hamas. “We have supported and will continue to support Israel’s right to self-defense at every forum,” the minister said. Szalay-Bobrovniczky said he and Gallant had discussed bilateral military ties and defense industry cooperation in addition to current security and defense policy matters. The meeting was also attended by executives of defense industry firms ELBIT, RAFAEL and IAI. During the visit, Hungary and Israel signed a memorandum of understanding on military cooperation. Szalay-Bobrovniczky noted Israel’s role in bolstering Hungary’s air defenses by supplying components of the Iron Dome missile defense system. These, together with the US-Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS), make up Hungary’s 21st-century high-tech air defense system, the minister said.