Hungarian Jewish leader shown amid banknotes on cover of pro-government magazine
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Budapest – Hungary’s largest Jewish organization has condemned “incitement” against its leader after he was depicted on the cover of a prominent pro-government weekly surrounded by banknotes.
The image of Andras Heisler, head of the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities (Mazsihisz), on the front cover of the pro-government magazine “revives centuries-old stereotypes against our community,” the group said in a statement.
“The appearance on a front cover of such incitement against a religious leader, without any factual basis, is unprecedented” since Hungary’s transition to democracy in 1990, it added.
The Figyelo magazine accused Heisler and Mazsihisz of accounting irregularities in connection with a state-funded synagogue renovation project in Budapest, allegations that Mazsihisz denies.
The row comes as the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban has itself previously faced accusations of using anti-Semitic tropes and imagery in its virulent campaigns against liberal US billionaire George Soros, claims it denies.