In the statement, ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman, underlined that Kuruc.info’s Facebook page carries information that violates laws against hate speech in Hungary and cited Prime Minister Orbán’s efforts to have the group’s web page, which is hosted in the United States, closed down.

“Through its Facebook page, Kuruc.info was conveying threats against Jews and Roma, inciting to violence, spreading vile anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial, all of which are crimes in Hungary,” said Foxman. “Even the Prime Minister of Hungary complained to the U.S. Government and Congress about Kuruc.info’s U.S.-hosted website.” The ADL’s statement continued, quoting Prime Minister Orbán’s letter:

“In July 2012, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban wrote about Kuruc.info to U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley, indicating that the ‘focal point of Hungarian anti-Semitism is a news portal, which, to avoid the measures of the Hungarian government, fled to the United States and has been conducting disgraceful activities from there. If this problem were to be resolved, then the Hungarian forces of anti-Semitism would be severely weakened.’”

Websites like Kuruc.info take advantage of the liberal free-speech laws of the US and the cover of foreign-language material to publish texts that would be considered hate speech and incitement to violence in their own countries. This was a major theme during a US Congressional hearing earlier this year, when several of the witnesses, including Hungary’s Tamás Fellegi, asked the members of Congress to take action against these websites. I wrote about it in an earlier post, “’Please, If You Can, Do Something’ About These Websites.”

Facebook’s decision to remove the page was a response to a complaint submitted by the Action and Protection Foundation with the assistance of ADL. The fact that Kuruc.info can no longer disseminate its hate speech on Facebook, rhetoric that violates fundamental rights protected in our new constitution and would be a prosecutable offense under our laws, is a major step in the right direction. Job well done! Thank you.

Source: A Blog About Hungary

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