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Israelis in Budapest: We live in fear
Miri Chason
Published: 13.11.06, 23:52
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61. You are liar!
gipsz ,   Hungary   (11.21.06)
Only one nation : - close people to getto - kill children with tanks - has a president who rape women That's Israel!
62. To Monika R.'s
Will ,   Budapest   (11.21.06)
imre kertesz is not a Hungarian, he denied his roots once and he always says HE IS NOT. By the way, dear jews (not the religion or culture but the raciist zyonists). If you don't like our country, please leave. We won't cry. Thank you!
63. Dodgy Story
Peter ,   Austria   (11.21.06)
This is a dodgy story, there is no way a metro inspector recognizes Hebrew; they do not even recognize English (let alone speak it). There is not more anitsemitism in Hungary than in any other European country, just go to Germany or Austria or Italy (where some footballers greet fans with fascist greetings) and you will see it yourself.
64. Dear reader and author...
Jozsef ,   Hungary, Budapest   (11.21.06)
Hi! Well, i am a hungarian guy, with hungarian origins, and i think this hole article is like....its a sensation seeking and dilettante. Its yellow press, nothing else. Hey, you think we are nationalists? In your language, You use the word "Goy", for anybody who is not jewish.... If some hungarian rioters, or rightwingers go out to the streets, with hungarian flags, you are frightened of them? why are You frightened of a flag? I think, well, this is xenophobic. If i wear some Hungarian symbols, then you really think that i am a fascist? What about You then? What about your flags? What about your symbols? You are those, who have the hardest stereotypes... You judge a whole nation, because a f**king metro inspector? Think about it, thats the way were nacism comes from! We suffered in history too, you had the holocaust, our country has been cut to 5 pieces, the 67 % of it has been annected by our neighbours, we had russian occupation after second world war, etc... By the way, in 1944, when Hungarian Jews were sended to Auscwitz, our hole country was under German occupation...read history people, in 1941, after the overrun of Poland, most of Polish Jews (approx. 170000) escaped to Hungary, they got cover here... So please, dont judge a whole nation through some extremists! I want remind you that your country has extremists too, its called ultraortodox, if i am correct. So please, think about it, and give peace a chance. Shalom aleichem. Béke.
65. It's not your country
Privateer ,   Budapest   (11.21.06)
Why can't you leave our country alone? It's a country based on the Christian religion. Don't want to turn our country to a Jewish country, because it's not your land. The Hungarians give you refugee after the second world war, and the people of the Jewish Community, to say thanks to us, selling out our lands, lying to us and plunder our people. If you don't like my people, my country please leave and don't come back. We won't cry. Also, in an article like this, please, mention that the people of the Jewish Community are also attacking Hungarians on our national celebrity for example, beat a little Christian girl because she celebrated on one of our greatest celebration and her only "guilt" was, the she was a Christian. You're provoking us. Now, your people want to destroy the statue of our ancestors to build up another holocaust monument. We're just defending our selves. Leave us, leave our country alone, go back to Israel and don't come back. Thank you.
66. Say no to the zionist terror.
NN ,   Eastern Europe   (11.21.06)
Those who are the perpetrators of targeted killings are complaining about the lack of safety in the streets of Budapest?! Jews! Time will come when the nations of Eastern Europe will join to the fight for freedom of the Palestinian people.
67. You have no moral background to teach us.
NN ,   Estern Europe   (11.21.06)
OMFG! A German citizen is trying to teach us about democracy, pluralism and tolerance?! What about Hitler? What about the "final solution". You have no moral background to teach us. Your country exterminated over 6 million Jews. So please give us a break! Hütlen.
68. gtr
grt ,   rtgtr   (11.21.06)
Please go home all, it will be better everybody!! And please forget Auswitz! If you ended holocaust project, perhaps the other countries will not hate you!
69. @ Monika R.
Vajk ,   Budapest   (11.22.06)
I don't think that Kertész or Orbán are real hungarians. Yes, they have hungarian identity card, but im talking about something else. Both of them are very mischievous for the people who live here. That was a wrong example :) And yes, you have rights to study whereever you want. But the yews are here not just to learn. They want to control the politics, media, government etc. And that's NOT FAIR. They're the most nationalist people. The hungarian antisemitism is just a natural reaction.
70. What are you talking about?
Kfar Saba   (11.22.06)
May be, if the Israeli students would have a valid ticket to the metro in the first place probably the inspector wouldn't attack them. May be if the Israeli medical student would learn some Hungarian (because 99% of them don't know even 30 words after 6 year), and they would think a little bit less about themself would be better. You have to know how to live your life, when you are abroad, because every Israeli in abroad is an ambassador to Israel. But this is true for every nation and for every country. This article is very bad for the Hungarian Jewry, because this already arrived to the Hungarian right wing media, and it showes a very bed picture. Not every Jew thinks like the medical student guy in the article. Yes there are anti-semits in Hungary, and in Europe, but it doesn't mean that everybody is that. Judith from Budapest: Yes, you hear on futball games anti-semitic chants, but did you know that in Israel you can hear chants on footbal games like "death to the arabs"? How can you compare this what is going on in Hungary. The police would arrest those right away, who would say the same thing about Jews in Hungary. And least but not last, I love those comments that daling with aliya. What are the Jews doing in the Galut, why they don't come to Israel. And if they would come, and then? Do Israel has enough place for them? Enough jobs? How should they finance themself and their families? I did make an aliya, and I can tell stories about it for hours. Are you sure that Israel really wants the rest of the Galut to come to Israel? Because with these lows and conditions in Israel the majority won't come, and a lot of them who did come will go back sooner or later.
71. racism?!
rita ,   budapest, hungary   (11.22.06)
The comments shows me that these Jewish guys hate Hungary. My questions would be the nexts: 1.If you hate then why do you live here? 2. Do you know the expression "guest"? If I were the guest of Israel I would not say these disgusting comments. We let you to live here so please appreciate our country. If you cannot then go somewhere else - the choice is free! And one more thing! The controllers are so unintelligent here it is impossible from their side to recognize a foreign language... I'm sure that story at the beginning is false. But all this fake fuss needs for who?! Why do so many Jewish people like to emerge racism?!
72. dumbness is international
Pete ,   Budapest, Hungary   (11.22.06)
"Don't forget to beat and slap them when you hear them talking Hungarian in the streets. It's about time us Israelis really show the world how much we can take." This is the dumbest reaction i have read. If a person hates jews, or Israel, why on the earth would he want to go to work there???? U better cool off mate, coz those hungarians have no bad feelings for u. Please do not generalize, because of stories. I do know good many people, who doesn't mind jewesh people at all. Or to put it in a better way, people who have hostile thoughts about jews are much less in numbers, than those who don't even think about them. Most people regard them as fellow citizens. In the name of these people i would like to reject these allegations. Hungary is not a bad place at all. (despite the current political turmoil) Not to mention, that jews here live a much much much better life, than what is offered for the arabs in Israel.
73. inspectors & racism
Akos ,   Budapest, Hungary   (11.22.06)
This story is hard to imagine. Inspectors unfortunately don't speak foreign language and it's pretty sure that cannot recognize Hebrew. I don't think Budapest is dangerous for any Jews even wearing traditional clothes/kipas. Some Israeli comments here are simply frightening. You hate everyone, but call others racist. Nonsense.
74. europeans don't care for arabs? naah
karalabe   (11.22.06)
let me assure you, most of europeans, especially "far-right-wing" europeans, as you address those who love their country the same way you love yours, deeply care for palestinian and lebanese people, as well as the whole Muslim world
75. do not generalize
Martin ,   Hungary   (11.23.06)
I'm very suprised by this article. It seems that the author is pretty bad in history! Yes, it's true that hungarian jews were deported and lot of naci-friend hungarian soldiers did awful things, but not every hungarian is antisemitist. DO NOT GENERALIZE! And don't forget, a lot of not jew hungarian (called goys by you) helped by hiding your people in cellars and attics! What about them??? So please don't say untrue things about my country! Yes, there are still some jew-haters here, but they are really few and they are just pathetic! But most of hungarians have no bad feelings about jews! Me neither.
76. a Hungarian Jew
Kata ,   Hungary   (11.24.06)
Its very interesting to read all these comments. Especially the ones that come from the other side of the World… I am a Hungarian Jew (had already a comment, no.53). Its very easy to give opinion about a country you dont even know and about a piece of news you dont even know if its true… Yes, you can flee to America, to Canada to have an easier life. There is nothing special about it. But we, Hungarian Jews here show the country that we exist and teach our surroundings there is nothing bad with us. That is something. I know we are not going to change the world and I dont want to be a hero either. But one thing is sure. We have to make sure that those things that have happened to the past with the jews and with our grandparents mustnt happen again. If everybody leaves who knows what happened, nobody will make this place a better one. I have been travelling and living around and I do not feel more antisemitism here than in Ireland, Belgium, France, USA, New Zealand, Switzerland etc. Plus at the moment I am selling Dead Sea Cosmetics in a very busy mall so I am close to all kinds of people. And for those who havent read my comment, a friend of mine got beaten up in Crown Heights, the Jewish Quarter in the USA – country of freedom- on Friday night walking home from the synagogue…. I dont know what happend to these israelis in the underground. I havent heard the news in Hungary, which is weird. Maybe also these kids should use the public transportation legally and buy a ticket and then there would be no problem. O.K., maybe you guys say this is a bad country, but it is the israeli’s choice to come here and attend a higher level of education and pay much less than anywhere in the World. If you are O.K. with this, then be O.K. with the fact also that you have to buy a ticket when you use the underground and instead of all the complainings try to help to have a better country here, this is your home too for 5-6-7 years…
77. minorities and human rights
Krisztián ,   Budapest, Hungary   (11.25.06)
Nationalism is rising everywhere in the last couple of years. I think Hungary and Isreal both has its own problems on this field. The situation of human rights are not worst in Hungary than in Israel this moment. In Budapest you can feel more safe as an Israeli citizen then as a Palestinian civil on the Wast Bank. To live your home country as a member of a minority group, it is the worst solution. It is supporting only those people who are against living together and multicultural society. As an antinationalist I feel the same when Jews are attacked in Budapest, Hungarians in Serbia or Palestinian children killed by IDF.
78. I am ashamed...
Bill F ,   Finland   (12.11.06)
...at the behavior of these Hungarians who mistreat foreigners. Although the metro incident sounds familiar, as I have experienced the same while with Finnish friends in Budapest.: the ticket inspector was agressive as a maddog, with a brutal and primitive behaviour. If he happens to be a neonazi at the same time, the result is catastrophic. On the other hand, it seems that people have not learned the most basic market economy rules yet; you might experience a similar type of rude attitude with clerks and shop assistants as well. The do not realize, that they their salaries are paid by the public and their customers. Yes, it is true, antisemitism has clearly been on the rise in the fast lane in Hungary, just as in other countries as well - as everybody can see through the media (papers and the internet). A small percentage of activists uses the same methods as Hitler, Szálasi and their gang used in the twenties-thirties and spread around fabrications digged out from the garbage cans of history. When life gets tight economically, the demagogy of the neonazis easily finds a fertile soil in the minds of the mobs, a minority is easy to be blamed for all the problems in the country. But this ideology is based on sheer lies. The mobs lack intellectual capacity to discern between truth and lies, they believe that myths fed to them are true. This way neonazi movements reach the uneducated easily, even though the spark might be set on fire by extreme right wing intellectuals or politicians. Shovinism and extreme nationalism tied together with religion is a dangerous combination. The ideology of the extreme right wing in present day Hungary is either mixed with nominally Christian (or paganistic religious) ideas. If these people profess to be Christians, in fact they do not have the faintest idea of what real Christianity is all about: "Love your neighbour as yourself". It seemes that this hard-boiled headed people has not learnt anything from history. They have ended up already two times on the wrong side in two world wars. All those who endorse antisemitism, incitement, slander and hate propaganda will be destroyed in one way or the other by falling in the trap they are building for others... Dear Israeli friends, take your money somewhere else, these people do not deserve that you put any penny in a country, that receives you with hatred. Still, not all Hungarians are like the ones mentioned in the article though... My appreciation to all righteous people, in any country on the face of the globe.
79. Shame
Laszlo ,   Budapest   (01.16.07)
Im curious how long will my post exist. This article is a shame. A big lie. It's disgusting u have the brave to publicate this. The yewish people live in this beutifull city better than most hungarian. Your beutifull shull is one of the bigest in whole europe. It was renewed by our countrie's subsidy and it was made from the taxes of hungarian citizens. There are no more harrasments against yews than other minorities of the country. Raccism is all over the world, just the target is different always. And i can say you are the responsible for growing (if there it is) antisemitism in budapest, cause of your ungratefull behaviour and topics and articles like this. You can thank a lot for this country much more than any other european coutries and u have face to write down and publicate news like this. This is disgusting! No pathetic. You cant go out the streets cause its dangerous? Cant believe this you will never stop the crying about your persecution can happen anything.
80. If you fear in Hungary, why don't you go home??????
goj ,   Budapest   (01.17.07)
If you fear in Hungary, why don't you go home??????
81. Don't forget to beat or slap them-answer
Shana ,   Hungary   (01.31.07)
Don't say "Don't forget to beat or slap them hearing hungarian speaking in the streets" not all hungarian people are bad and anti semite here....i'm not a jewish girl, but most of my friends are jewish,and i love them, and the jewish culture.. Don't think that all the people are bed here.. if you slap and beat us , when you hear hungarian speaking, you will be the same like that inspector.. Im sorry because there are people like this man, really sorry, if i could i would move away from here...
82. Medical Schools in Hungary
George ,   Los Angeles   (06.30.07)
I'm amazed that Hungarian Medical Degrees are accepted in Israel. It is common knowledge that you practically can buy your MD degree there for a couple of thousand dollars... In fact the new Hungarian Minister of Health, Agnes Horvath, just announced that 25% of the patiens are misdiagnosed in Hungarian hospitals and die there...!!!! I hope they don't let these bozos practice medicine in Israel... practically a monkey can buy a medical degree there with enough money...
83. Are Ticket Inspectors All Alike?
Paul ,   Florida USA   (07.02.07)
Although I haven't been to Budapest for 15 years, I did have two nasty incidents with ticket inspectors in Kyiv. You are supposed to punch your ticket and show it if asked. But the machine I used was broken and didn't punch in the right pattern, so when the inspector came around, he demanded 10 hryvna as a "fine." I attempted to explain to him what happened in Ukrainian but he only spoke Russian! (I refuse to speak Russian in Ukraine). He threatened to physically manhandle me and didn't understand what "diplomatic immunity" meant. Discretion wound up being the better part of valor. In another case, two inspectors got to me before the conductor could sell me a ticket, and the same thing ensued. I threatened to have them arrested and this time was very aggressive with them after I got off the tram (this time I had my diplomatic ID with me), telling them I would look for the nearest policeman. Both times, we protested to the local authorities. I think the profession of ticket inspector in these countries is something akin to legalized robbery. When an editor from the Lonely Planet came to visit me, I suggested he put a warning about tram conductors in Kyiv in the next edition of his book (a female colelague had a similar horror story a few weeks afterward).
84. No, we dont hate jews.
Hungarian ,   Budapest   (08.03.07)
I think, people in hungary dont hate jews and are really ashamed of the IIWW acts. However there are some excentric skinhead groups, but they are far from majority. The sad thing is, that as I read these posts, seems to me, that everybody hates hungarians, despite of nothing happened against jewish people except of a few cemetery vandalities. I think it is still much harder to be a black man in texas, than a jewish in hungary. so dont be afraid, and don't hate people, that wouldnt harm you or your feelings.
85. Lying
Andras   (09.11.07)
May be there are lot of verbal anitsemitic act from the marginal extrem right side in politic life of Hungary. But this tale is not truth or Lavi is paranoinac. lot of passager don't get ticket in the metro after they do like a tourist with the inspector in order to avoid paying the penalty. Jugde this a antisemitic act is a simple lie
86. Tommy Lapid id dead.Dah
Agi ,   Israel   (06.30.11)
87. This story is fake
Maria (Hungarian) ,   Budapest   (08.07.20)
I don’t say that everything is rosy in Hungary but most people have nothing against Jews and there are even philosemites like me. This article is not correct on many levels! 1) “right wing demonstrations against the Government”? The Government IS the right wing! 2) How on Earth would a half illiterate inspector recognise Hebrew? They don’t even speak English!
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