Mandiner asked the chief rabbi of EMIH about the latest antisemitic scandal surrounding Jobbik’s vice-president, Dániel Z. Kárpát.
“Old Jobbik in a New Bottle” is the title of an article published online by the American Jewish Voice, which deals with the antisemitism of Hungary’s Jobbik party. The author of the article, Martin Kertesz, criticizes the fact that the 10th place on the list of the opposition coalition is occupied by a politician with antisemitic views, Dániel Z. Kárpát.
The author has also embedded a video in the article in which the Jobbik vice-president visibly waves his arms in a Nazi gesture and then starts laughing.
Mandiner contacted Shlomo Köves, the chief rabbi of the Association of Hungarian Jewish Communities (EMIH), about the incident.
Köves told Mandiner that Jobbik has been promoting racism and antisemitism at the level of the party platform since its foundation, and over the years, it has become a public symbol of this.
„The antisemitic manifestations, the racist statements and salutes while smiling, the fearsome narrow-minded manifestations that have been repeatedly revealed about the present-day leaders of Jobbik are not individual aberrations, but the trappings of an openly adopted ideology.”
– said the chief rabbi of EMIH.
„In light of this, it is worth reflecting on how irresponsible it was for Jobbik’s brand, and through it the ideology they represent in public life, to be legitimized by parties that condemn antisemitism and racism.”
– stressed Shlomo Köves.
