September 16, 2016 — New York, New York
Following a meeting in New York this week with AJC and other Jewish organizations, Hungarian State Secretary Levente Magyar claimed that we concurred with his view that U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power’s remarks about antisemitism in Hungary at a recent UN Conference were “exaggerated,” “intentionally mistranslated sentences” based on “distorted information.”
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Ambassador Power correctly described the disturbing developments in Hungary, a country to which we have long attached importance. Antisemitism and xenophobia are a serious concern, as has been widely reported. We support Ambassador Power’s remarks and share her criticism of the Hungarian state honor awarded to the journalist Zsolt Bayer, a notorious figure known for his antisemitic and anti-Roma invective. We have, in fact, shared our outrage at this act directly with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
