Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Péter Szijjártó told i24NEWS in an interview that his country had hoped for the return of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The minister said that the return of the Likud Party leader to the premiership has allowed the bilateral relationship between the two nations to flourish.

"If we raise the question to ourselves under whose leadership were the relations between Israel and Hungary flourishing and improving, then it’s obvious that under the leadership of Prime Minister Netanyahu we had the best possible relationship with Israel," said Szijjártó.

The Foreign Minister added that his country is ready to deepen its connection with Jerusalem in all sectors, saying, "We built partnerships and bilateral cooperation in the field of economy, trade, culture, science in a very beneficial manner for both sides."

"We hope to further deepen the cooperation," Szijjártó added.

The Foreign Affairs Minister was asked about Israel's domestic issues, including the demonstrations over the proposed judicial reforms being brought to the Knesset by the Netanyahu-led government, and the growing violence between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs in Judea and Samaria.

Szijjártó said in response that he believes the pressure Israel receives from nations across the globe is unfair.

"We don’t like that very unfair approach which is being reflected in international organizations against Israel, we never vote in favor of those bias resolutions which are very much anti-Israel in international organizations," he said, and noted that Netanyahu won't have to wait long to be invited for a visit to Budapest.

"We are excited about the new term of Prime Minister Netanyahu, we are excited he can pay another visit to Hungary," Szijjártó told i24NEWS.

Israel has had close ties with the government of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The Times of Israel recently reported that Budapest would move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem next month, in an act of support by Orban for Netanyahu.

Hungarian President Katalin Novak said later, however, that no decision had yet been made on the embassy relocation.

In 2019, Orban announced that Hungary would open a trade office in Jerusalem that has “diplomatic status”.