Hungary Pledges Support For Mideast Christians and Israel
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
BUDAPEST/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Hungary’s conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orbán says his nation will continue supporting persecuted Christians in the Middle East, including in ‘the Holy Land,’ which includes Israel and Palestinian territories.
In comments seen by Worthy News on Friday, Orbán’s office said the prime minister had met in Budapest Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, for talks on aid to Christians in the Middle East.
Orbán and the patriarch agreed that “hostilities resulting in the disappearance of Christian Communities in the Holy Land must be avoided.”
The prime minister said Hungary “will continue to provide humanitarian aid and assistance to support religious activities that contribute to the survival of Christian communities in the Middle East.”
Hungary is the only known nation with a government secretariat dedicated to supporting persecuted Christians, including in the Middle East.
Tristan Azbej, Hungary’s State Secretary for the Aid of Persecuted Christians, said: “We are confronted by the fact that Christianity is the world’s most persecuted faith.” More than 365 million Christians “suffer high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith,” and thousands were killed for their faith in Christ in 2023, according to advocacy group Open Doors.
CONDEMNING GENOCIDE CHARGE
Hungary also maintains close ties with Israel and has condemned South Africa’s decision to prosecute the Jewish nation for “genocide” at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
“Such accusations against a country that had to face such a hellish terrorist attack is clearly nonsense,” Péter Szijjártó said after talks this week in Jerusalem with Israeli counterpart Israel Katz.
He referred to the October 7 attack by Hamas against Israel in which about 1,200 people died and up to 250 people, including a handful of Hungarians, were taken, hostage. Of the five kidnapped Hungarians, three were released while one passed away, and one is still being held, the minister confirmed.
Szijjártó added that successful Israel “counter-terrorist” operations were in the interest of the entire world.”
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has said, however, that about 24,762 Palestinians have been killed and 62,100 others injured since war broke out on October 7 between Israel and Hamas.
Those figures have been difficult to verify, and authorities declined to say how many combatants were among those killed.
‘HAMAS’ HUMAN SHIELDS
Israel has acknowledged its strikes have killed civilians but blames Hamas for using innocent residents and hostages as human shields. Szijjártó cautioned against allowing the conflict to escalate into World War Three.
He noticed that Hungary lived “in the shadow” of a similar threat in neighboring Ukraine. “If the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East escalate, only the good Lord can save the world from the consequences.”
Szijjártó called on the international community to support Israel’s maneuvers to enable the region to return to “the path of the Abraham Accords.”
Brokered under previous U.S. President Donald J. Trump, a close ally of Hungary’s current government, the Abraham Accords aimed to improve ties between Israel and several Arabic nations.
Szijjártó said the Accords offered “an opportunity to normalize the situation in the Middle East.”
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