The Jewish Community of Vác, the Duna-Ipoly-Galga Jewish Education and Research Centre and the Hungarian-Israeli Friendship Circle of Vác held a joint candle-lighting in defense of human dignity on Wednesday in the garden in front of the local synagogue „in response to the antisemitic and racist posts of left-wing representatives of Vác and the threatening of the president of the Jewish Community of Vác.”
On Monday, váconline.hu reported that the local branches of Fidesz and KDNP had asked the left-wing representatives to resign, due to their manifestations, but they did not comply.
According to the portal, the Jewish Community of Vác also spoke out against the antisemitic posts of the left-wing politicians. A few days later, the president of the Jewish Community of Vác, János Turai, received an anonymous threatening letter, in which was written,
„You stinking Jew! We’ll smash your synagogue and your dirty cemetery,” according to the article on váconline.hu, which also mentioned that the Jewish community filed a complaint with the police against the unknown perpetrator.
At a candle-lighting ceremony held on Wednesday evening, János Turai, president of the community, responded to a comment from the media that Péter Márki-Zai, candidate for prime minister of the united opposition, had recently said that „there are some Jews in Fidesz, although very few” by saying: We are Hungarians, and that is our common denominator.
„I don’t consider someone who says such things to be a decent person,” said János Turai, adding that „an apology would be appropriate, but that’s not going to happen.”
Meanwhile, the official Facebook page of the Municipality of Vác made the following statement:
„We regret to note that the President of the Jewish Community of Vác is being used as a tool by Fidesz-KDNP in a vile antisemitic political campaign. We have taken the initiative to ask the President for the facts – we have not received a reply so far.
Vác Online, a campaign publication essentially linked to Fidesz and Bence Rétvári in Vác, and also media close to Fidesz, dug up Facebook posts by two representatives from almost a decade ago. A significant part of them misrepresented that there are Nazi representatives in the local government.”
According to the announcement:
„A picture of Zsolt Fehér in an assault helmet is being used as an illustration for the character assassination attempt, suggesting that he was photographed wearing a Nazi hat. In reality, the representative is shown in a steel helmet of the Hungarian Defence Forces, which was issued in 1970 and thus has nothing to do with the Nazi era. Just as the picture of him in a jersey with a Turul used in their propaganda has nothing to do with the Nazi empire. These misinterpreted images are being mixed up by media close to Fidesz with a post by Bence Tótváradi-Nagy, presumably 10 years ago, for which he has since publicly apologized.
The President of the Jewish Community of Vác could not be aware of any statement, action or event that could in any way link the Municipality of Vác to antisemitism. The accusation that there are Nazis on the board cannot be substantiated. On the contrary, the Municipality of Vác has repeatedly made it clear that it has a zero-tolerance policy towards antisemitism and any form of Holocaust denial.”
The compromising manifestations of Bence Tótváradi-Nagy and Zsolt Fehér, who originally entered the board of the Vác Municipality as a Jobbik member, were collected by the Vác Online news portal.
