Hungary: paper publishes anti-Semitic article, intelligentsia protests
Posted by Jean Yves Chainon on April 3, 2008 at 10:08 AM
About 100 Hungarian intellectuals have sent an open letter of protest to the boss of the right-wing daily Magyar Hirlap, close to the Fidesz political party, after the paper published an op-ed article with the "worst anti-Semitic commentaries since World War 2" in Hungary.
In the article, which was a reaction to comments by journalist Rudolf Ungvary, from the left-wing daily Nepszabadsag, Zsolt Bayer wrote that "in 1967, Jews from Budapest hated Israel. Today, these same Jewish journalist hate Arabs, the Fidesz, and us. They hate us more than we hate them (...) Their simple existence justifies anti-Semitism."
Ibolya David, head of the Hungarian democratic Forum, another right-wing party, strongly denounced the article as scandalous. According to her, Magyar Hirlap "crossed a yellow line that no Christian nor democrat should cross."
Magyar Hirlap's boss recognized that the article's ideas were "very strong, open to wrong interpretation, perhaps even offensive," but he defended the "freedom of expression" of Bayer.
Bayer has refused to apologize for the article.
Source: Courrier International (link in French)
In the article, which was a reaction to comments by journalist Rudolf Ungvary, from the left-wing daily Nepszabadsag, Zsolt Bayer wrote that "in 1967, Jews from Budapest hated Israel. Today, these same Jewish journalist hate Arabs, the Fidesz, and us. They hate us more than we hate them (...) Their simple existence justifies anti-Semitism."
Ibolya David, head of the Hungarian democratic Forum, another right-wing party, strongly denounced the article as scandalous. According to her, Magyar Hirlap "crossed a yellow line that no Christian nor democrat should cross."
Magyar Hirlap's boss recognized that the article's ideas were "very strong, open to wrong interpretation, perhaps even offensive," but he defended the "freedom of expression" of Bayer.
Bayer has refused to apologize for the article.
Source: Courrier International (link in French)
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