The Center for Fundamental Rights quoted the director of CASEPAC, Bryan Leib, as declaring in an opinion piece on NewsMax that Israel and the Jewish community will not forget the support they received from Hungary in the past years.
CASEPAC is an organization that supports American congressional candidates and representatives fighting antisemitism. The leader of the organization, Bryan Leib was among the participants of the International Pro-Israel Conference organized by the Center for Fundamental Rights in Budapest at the beginning of this week.
In the article, Mr Leib recalled that he had spoken with officials, numerous Hungarian citizens, and leaders of the Center for Fundamental Rights who also shared their government’s commitment to Israel. Mr Leib noted that when he arrived at the conference, he was welcomed by the director of the Center for Fundamental Rights Miklós Szánthó with ‘a warm embrace and supportive words for my people.’ He highlighted that the majority of the people he mentioned in the article were not Jewish but Christian.
‘The entire world can learn a lot from your political leaders,
your people, and your values,’ the executive director of CASEPAC expressed, as highlighted in the statement by the Center for Fundamental Rights. In his op-ed, Bryan Leib recalled learning about the attack on Israel while travelling to Budapest. He added that a meeting convened on other topics had turned into a sombre but powerful discourse. ‘Even in the midst of the pain and grief we all felt, it opened my eyes in the most wonderful way to who and what the Hungarian people are and what they represent,’ Bryan Leib continued.
The CASEPAC director wrote that he considered it an honour to speak with high-ranking Hungarian officials, including the Minister of Defence Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky, former Minister of Justice Judit Varga, and the Hungarian Ambassador to the United States Szabolcs Takács, all of whom assured him of their support for Israel. He added that
the sincere support of the Hungarian people for the state of Israel, the Israeli people, and Jewish communities worldwide deeply touched him.
He opined that this level of support is not felt in the United States.
Bryan Leib noted that believes that this support ‘starts at the top,’ with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán tweeting his condemnation of the brutal attack by Hamas as soon as news of it broke. Orbán also stood up for Israel’s right to self-defence. He noted that all of this is refreshing, especially when he sees antisemitism growing in America, and thousands of Americans took to the streets to support Hamas.
Summing it up, he Mr Leib stated: ‘As a Jew, I felt safer walking the streets of Budapest than when I return home to Florida. This, in itself, is a sad state of affairs for my country, and it should have been addressed not today or tomorrow but yesterday.’
‘I will never forget that I visited Hungary when the Tehran-supported Hamas terrorist group slaughtered over a thousand Israelis; I will never forget the love and support that I saw and felt from those who were once complete strangers and whom I know will become lifelong friends and strategic partners,’ the executive director of CASEPAC concluded.
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Sources: Hungarian Conservative/Center for Fundamental Rights/NewsMax
