Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Far-right Hungarian mayor, Mihaly Zoltan Orosz, filmed hanging effigy of Benjamin Netanyahu in protest against Gaza war

The member of notorious anti-semitic group Jobbik called Israel a "Jewish terror state"

Kashmira Gander
Tuesday 05 August 2014 07:52 BST
Comments
Mihaly Zoltan Orosz, who has been the mayor of Erpatak in Hungary since 2005.
Mihaly Zoltan Orosz, who has been the mayor of Erpatak in Hungary since 2005.

The extremist right-wing mayor of a town in eastern Hungary held a mock-execution in which effigies of the Prime Minister and former President of Israel were hanged, in what he claims was a protest against the war in Gaza.

Erpatak mayor Mihaly Zoltan Orosz told reporters on Monday that the “Jewish terror state” is trying to obliterate the Palestinians and said he opposed “the efforts of Freemason Jews to rule the world.”

Hungary's foreign ministry condemned the mayor's actions, saying he was using innocent victims of the war “to spread hate-inducing propaganda.”

An online video of Saturday's event shows an executioner with a black hood over his face kicking chairs out from under the puppets of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former President Shimon Peres, each tied to a gallows.

Flanked by flag-bearing youths, he holds an Israeli-like flag, where the Star of David has been replaced with the Freemason symbol.

Orosz has been mayor of the town 240km from the capital of Budapest since 2005, and is affiliated with the ultra-nationalist group Jobbik. The group are part of a trend of so-called ‘Putinism’ in Hungary, characterised by support for nationalism, religion, social conservatism, state capitalism, and government domination of the media.

Earlier in the year, anti-racism groups in the UK attempted to ban Jobbik’s leader, Gabor Vona, from making a speech in London which co-incided with Holocaust Memorial Day.

At the time, the then-leader of the British National Party, Nick Griffin, had spoken of a “common core” of shared values with Jobbik and the Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn.

Additional reporting by AP

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in