A lawmaker from the blatantly anti-Semitic Hungarian Jobbik Party, who recently called for a list to be compiled of Jews who he alleges pose a “security risk”, is planning to embark on a lecture tour regarding the “Zionist threat.”
Hungarian lawmaker Marton Gyongyosi will tour nationwide to give lectures “about attacks on Jobbik and himself and the party’s foreign policy, with focus on its strong and true criticism of Israel,” the Jobbik party said in a statement released Friday.
“Jobbik has been exposed to unprecedented attacks in Hungary and abroad … Relying on its huge lobbying and blackmailing potential, Zionism has deployed all its strength to launch a global campaign to discredit Jobbik,” the statement said.
In November, Gyongyosi called on the Hungarian government to drawn up a list of Jewish lawmakers and government members, suggesting they posed a national security risk.
His list specifically targeted Hungarians with dual Israeli citizenship.
A probe against Gyongyosi was dropped earlier this month, as Hungary’s chief prosecutor Imre Keresztes maintained that the comments did not constitute incitement to hatred on racial, religious or ethnic grounds.
The Unified Hungarian Jewish Congregation and the Chabad-Lubavitch community issued a joint statement saying they were "convinced that the original intent behind the criminal law on incitement to hatred has not been properly applied."
"After consultation with domestic and international interest groups and legal experts, and in the interest of every peace-loving Hungarian, we will do everything to clarify the legal environment for sanctioning incitement to hatred," the statement read.
"The influence of such types of speech is unquestionable. Words used in parliament carry a particular weight, manners of speech accepted there signal to wider society the boundaries of what is generally acceptable."
Gyongyosi's "Jewish list" comments provoked outrage at home and abroad. Soon after his remarks, around 10,000 people attended an anti-fascism rally in protest outside the Hungarian parliament.