MEP Deutsch Tamás’s letter to the members of the European Parliament

MEP Tamás Deutsch, Head of delegation of the Fidesz to European Parliament, addressed his fellow European Parliament members with the following letter regarding the Ambassador Pressman scandal:

Honourable Colleagues,

I would like to draw your attention to a shocking diplomatic and public scandal committed by the United States Ambassador to Hungary, David Pressman, which has provoked the unanimous disapproval of the Jewish denominations in Hungary.

David Pressman invited MEP Márton Gyöngyösi to a dinner at the US Embassy in Budapest to celebrate the Jewish Passover Seder, who, as a representative of the far-right Jobbik party, made an unprecedented anti-Semitic statement in the Hungarian parliament which was then rejected by the entire Hungarian political sphere. A few years later, Mr. Gyöngyösi 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.

As is known, in 2012, Gyöngyösi, who is now President of the Jobbik-Konzervatívok party and a member of the European Parliament, said in a plenary debate in the National Assembly on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that “it is time to assess how many people of Jewish origin living here, and especially in Parliament and the Hungarian government, pose a certain national security risk to Hungary. I believe that they owe Hungary such a survey.”

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- Konzervatívok party and its representatives.

András Heisler, President of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Hungary (Mazsihisz), who was among the dinner guests, commented that Mazsihisz continues to stay away from any dialogue with Jobbik and that Gyöngyösi was an undesirable person in Jewish circles.

According to Chief Rabbi Tamás Róna, the joint participation of the President of Mazsihisz and the leader of Jobbik in such an event “fundamentally upsets the real, Jewish community of faith in Hungary”.

While Slomó Köves, head of the United Hungarian Jewish Community (EMIH), said that “Márton Gyöngyösi at the Passover seder table is like a paedophile guest of honour at a conference on kindergarten education or the leader of the Ku Klux Klan at a Martin Luther Day celebration. It is incomprehensible and his admission is tactless and impolite”.

David 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 legitimizing the anti-Semitic manifestations of Jobbik and Gyöngyösi.

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.

Pressman’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.

In light of all this, we consider David 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. 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.

Yours sincerely,

Tamás Deutsch

Head of the Fidesz Delegation to the European Parliament