President Katalin Novák underlined how she discussed the importance of peace with outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid in Tel-Aviv.
“I met with outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid in Tel Aviv. We could exchange a few words in Hungarian as well, as he is of Hungarian origin on both his mother’s and father’s side. We talked about defense industrial cooperation and also about how important it is for us Hungarians to preserve peace in our country,” Novák said in an English-language post on Facebook. “For us Christians, Israel is the Holy Land, the Promised Land,” she said. “In Jerusalem, I met with the leaders of local Christian churches as well,” she added. “Few people know that Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world today,” she said. Hungary’s efforts to help persecuted Christians are recognized all over the world, she added and expressed thanks for the opportunity to discuss the difficulties and ways to cope with them. During her two-day visit to Israel, the Hungarian president met Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog, as well as Prime Minister-elect Benjamin Netanyahu. In Jerusalem, she visited the Yad Vashem Institute and the Holocaust memorial center.