Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a nationalist whose policies have raised concerns among Jews in his country in the past, said on a visit to Israel on Thursday they should feel safe under his government.
Paying a reciprocal visit to Israel a year after hosting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Budapest, Orbán reaffirmed that Hungary maintains a policy of "zero tolerance" for anti-Semitism.
"All of the Jewish citizens in Hungary are under the protection of the government," Orbán said in remarks to reporters in Hungarian. "We are proud that in Hungary, self-identifying Jews, who celebrate and preserve Jewish tradition can feel safe."
Last year, Orbán raised concerns among Hungary's Jewish community when he praised the country's interwar leader Miklos Horthy, a Hitler ally, and used an image of Jewish U.S. financier George Soros in an anti-immigration billboard campaign.
The World Jewish Congress estimates the Jewish population in Hungary at between 75,000 and 100,000.
Orbán met with Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Thursday. Ahead of their meeting, Netanyahu said he and Orbán understood the "threat posed by radical Islam is real and can threaten Europe, ourselves and our Arab neighbors."
"We are on the frontline defending Europe," he said.
Netanyahu called Orbán "a true friend of Israel," and Orbán said that the close Israeli-Hungarian ties were due to his "excellent personal relations" with Netanyahu.
"A Hungarian patriot and a Jewish Israeli patriot will always find something in common," Orbán said.
Pledging to cooperate in "anything related to the war against anti-Semitism," Orbán said the phenomenon was on the rise in Western Europe and on the decline in Eastern Europe and also took the form of "utterances against the State of Israel."
Netanyahu said he and Orbán "both understand that the threat of radical Islam is a real one."
Touching on a familiar theme, Orbán said Europe was in a "crisis of immigration and terror," and added that "terrorists are taking advantage of the migrants' routes to reach Europe and we have to take steps against this phenomenon."
Orbán was greeted by Science Minister Ofir Akunis upon landing in Israel Wednesday evening for the official two-day visit, his first to Israel since entering office in 2010.
Orbán was also due to meet President Reuven Rivlin and Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi David Lau, Thursday.
Later in the day, he was expected to visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and museum and lay a wreath at the Hall of Remembrance. On Thursday evening, Orbán was scheduled to have dinner with Netanyahu and his wife Sara.
On Friday, Orbán was planning to visit the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City.
Hungary's government has attached great importance to the visit, and four government ministers are accompanying Orbán on his Israel trip.
Posting on Twitter, Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid, whose father was a Hungarian Holocaust survivor, blasted Netanyahu for meeting Orbán.
"Netanyahu is going to honor Viktor Orbán, who has hailed and praised the anti-Semitic leader who collaborated with the Nazis in the extermination of the Jews of Hungary. Shame!"
Lapid later said Netanyahu was continuing in the same vein as when he signed off on a Polish law that prohibits implicating Poland in Nazi crimes.
"He does not have a mandate to forgive the murder of those who perished. He does not have a mandate to remain silent in the face of modern anti-Semitism. Israel was established so that the Jews could stand tall and never fear or cower before anti-Semites. It is a disgrace that Netanyahu cowers before an Eastern European leader who is busy chewing away at his country's democratic values," Lapid said.
