Hungary has a political movement called Jobbik, which styles itself as fighting crime, particularly “Gipsy crime.” It is the third largest political party in Hungary and has 47 seats in the 386 member parliament. Jobbik has taken over the town of Tiszavasvári in Hungary and cleaned up prostitution, tidied the streets and keeps a watchful eye on the Roma districts (where gypsies live). It even has its own security force separate, but cooperative with the police, reminding some of Hitler’s infamous brownshirts.
Jobbik has also designated the town of Tiszavasvári a sister city of a town in Iran in order to show its loathing of the Jewish state of Israel, which the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, notoriously declared should be “wiped from the pages of history.”
Jews from Tiszavasvári were given a 1 in 10 chance of survival in Hungary during World War II. Many were exterminated in the Nazi concentration camps. Even to this day, Jews keep a low profile in Tiszavasvári and most (90%) refuse to disclose their Jewish identity.
“They hate the Jewish people, and so does the Iranian government, and that is why they have formed this allegiance. It is a shame for Tiszavasvári, and it hurts the memories of those Jewish people who lived there.”
To protest the movement, the World Jewish Congress was held in Budapest. It usually meets in Jerusalem. The Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban has been criticized for not taking a firm enough stand against anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitic incidents have risen dramatically in Hungary in recent years. World Jewish Congress leaders notice that the hatred of the Jews manifests itself “in the streets, in parliament, in the media.” Meanwhile Mr. Orban’s party has placed curbs on the judiciary and the media, in an anti-freedom trend, and which could threaten Hungary’s membership in the EU.
But because of the global banking crisis, which hit Hungary hard leaving 1 in 10 jobless, Jobbik has another villain; wealthy Jews. Jewish community leaders have been attacked in the street, Jewish cemeteries have been desecrated, biker gangs hold anti-Semitic rallies, and one Jobbik MP said that a “security” register should be created of Hungarian MPs and civil servants who were of “Jewish origin.” Verbal abuse occurs on a regular basis, and neo-Nazis portray their paraphernalia at public gatherings.
Could the rise of the far right in Hungary and other countries prepare the citizens to persecute anyone that isn’t mainstream in their practices and even their worship?
“And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads…” Revelation 13:15, 16
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