In his letter, Deutsch called Gyöngyösi’s invitation to the Jewish Passover Seder hosted by David Pressman a “tasteless provocation” and “a shocking diplomatic and public scandal”, a Fidesz group statement said.

Deutsch said that Gyöngyösi “as a representative of the far-right Jobbik party, had made an unprecedented anti-Semitic statement in the Hungarian parliament” and later “as Jobbik vice-president, participated as an observer in the illegal pro-Putin referendum in the separatist provinces of south-eastern Ukraine, in Donetsk, which was unanimously condemned by Western countries”.

“David Pressman’s insensitivity reveals that the US ambassador in Budapest is so biased against the Hungarian government that neither the Jobbik leader’s anti-Semitism, nor his active pro-Putin stance, nor the sensitivity of the Jewish community in Hungary, prevent him from seating Márton Gyöngyösi at the table with Jewish leaders on a Jewish holiday,” he said.

Deutsch said that the ambassador’s “behaviour is even more incomprehensible given that the ambassadors of the United States of America are treated with the highest respect in Hungary and are regarded by the government and the governing parties as representatives of one of the country’s most important allies”.

He said that “Pressman’s blunder is compounded by the fact that Márton Gyöngyösi was the only politician present at the dinner, which means that by inviting him he gave a kind of privileged status to the anti-Semitic party leader, at the same time legitimising the anti-Semitic manifestations of Jobbik and Gyöngyösi.

He said that the group considers “Pressman’s behaviour to be distasteful and seriously provocative, and we place it among the actions of the US Democratic administration, which, despite our alliance, is increasingly openly attacking our conservative Christian-democratic government’s anti-war position as well as its prioritisation of Hungarian national interests”.

Deutsch said that “the Jewish denominations in Hungary united in condemning Ambassador Pressman’s blatant gesture, which demonstrates his total political blindness, and confirmed their disassociation from the Jobbik party and its representatives”.

“In line with our political position of rejecting any attempt at external intervention in the European Union, we condemn Pressman’s tasteless provocation in the strongest terms,” he said.

Photo courtesy: U.S. Embassy Budapest