Speaking at the UN Security Council meeting, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said that the international community must make it clear that it is on Israel’s side. Szijjártó also praised Trump’s Middle East peace plan, all while sitting next to the Palestinian delegate.
The situation in the Middle East is a priority for Hungary in several respects, including security in the region and as the origin of migration flows, Szijjártó said in New York.
According to a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Hungary’s foreign minister stressed ahead of the UN Security Council’s open debate on the situation in the Middle East that if things are moving in the direction of stability, peace and tranquility in the region, the chances of migration outflows are much lower.
„It is clear that when there is instability, when there are war situations and people want to flee, there are serious migration flows,” he said, adding that migrants usually head for Europe.
He also said that it is important that Israel is a strategic ally of Hungary, and that the government has always stood up for the Jewish state’s right to self-defense. According to him, the international community must make it clear that it is on Israel’s side and must acknowledge that the country is facing a huge terrorist threat and must call terrorist organizations and terrorists by their names.
„We always regret that certain committees, bodies and member states in the United Nations pursue an explicitly anti-Israel policy and adopt an unfair, unsportsmanlike and one-sided position against Israel,”
he said, stressing that Hungary is in favor of a balanced approach.
Péter Szijjártó underlined that practically all Middle East peace plans have failed in the past decades, and only the so-called Abraham Accords adopted under Donald Trump’s presidency seem to be working. It is therefore important that they remain in place and that more Arab countries normalize their relations with Israel.
In addition, he said that the situation in the Middle East is also extremely important for the Christian communities in the region and thus for Hungary, which has a thousand-year-old Christian statehood and a fundamental sense of responsibility towards them.
„Many Christian communities in the Middle East are suffering persecution, and we call attention today to the fact that the UN also has a responsibility in this matter,” he said.
Finally, on the US administration led by President Joe Biden, he said, that although bilateral relations were undoubtedly at their best during Donald Trump’s term, Hungary will always respect the decisions of its partner countries’ citizens.
„We are open to this issue. Unfortunately, this openness is not always reciprocated with a similar attitude from this side of the Atlantic,”
he pointed out.
„Hungarian-American relations are not a partisan issue for us, and we naturally always seek the best relations with the elected administration. At the same time, we have to see that our political approaches do not always coincide, and in fact they coincide quite rarely,” he added.
It is particularly interesting that Péter Szijjártó delivered his speech sitting next to the Palestinian delegate.
Yesterday, Szijjártó also met with Gilad Erdan, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, and Arthur Schneier, a Hungarian-born Orthodox rabbi from New York. The Foreign Minister wrote on his Facebook page:
„Israel and Hungary are strategic allies of each other. We are proud that the largest Jewish community in Central Europe lives in Hungary and as long as we govern, this community can feel completely safe.”
„Today I met with Gilad Erdan, who is now Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, formerly Israel’s Minister of Internal Security. In this position, I held talks with him earlier in Jerusalem,” recalls Szijjártó of his former relationship with Erdan.
„I also visited Rabbi Arthur Schneier, the head of East Park Synagogue, who survived the Holocaust in Budapest. The anniversary of the liberation of the Budapest ghetto gave today’s meeting a special significance, as I was able to express the Hungarian nation’s solidarity with and appreciation for our Jewish compatriots,” the foreign minister recalled.
To listen to the full speech of Péter Szijjártó at the UN Security Council, click here.
