#marchoflife

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[enochmoses-blog]

I am proud of my wife. She marched in the #MarchofLife (at The March for Life)

[ferenckuminblog]

Anti-Defamation League Thanks PM Orbán for ‘Quick Action to Prevent an Egregious Insult’

“Your public instruction during your remarks at the National Assembly…conveyed to all the solemnity of respectful commemoration of the Holocaust, especially at a time when voices of bigotry are growing louder in Europe.”

Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, in a letter to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, April 9, 2013.

Earlier this week, I wrote about the scandalous rally being organized by a motorcyclists association and Prime Minister Orbán’s condemnation of the event. It was being organized under the tasteless slogan, “Adj gázt!” – which translates roughly as “Step on the gas!” or “Turn on the gas!” – and scheduled on the same day as the annual March of the Living, an event that commemorates the Holocaust.

“I categorically condemn all such behavior,” the prime minister said. Actions such as this, he continued, that deliberately seek to offend the dignity and history of certain ethnic groups are deeply hurtful and contrary to the spirit of the constitution. The March of Life is about the victory of life and people of good will should treat it with respect, he said, especially before a community that has endured such suffering.

Under Hungary’s new constitution, the right of free speech is protected but may be limited where it may violate the dignity of a “national, ethnic, racial or religious community.”

The prime minister then asked the minister of interior to use all legal means possible to prevent the event from violating the dignity of the participants in the March of the Living.

The Anti-Defamation League, which was founded 100 years ago and “aims to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and secure justice and fair treatment to all peoples,” promptly recognized the prime minister’s move.

“We want to express our appreciation,” wrote Foxman, “for your quick action to prevent an egregious insult to the Hungarian Jewish community, to all participants in the March of the Living in Budapest on April 21, and to Jews throughout the world.”

ADL has been an astute observer of the issue of anti-Semitism in Europe, and we appreciate the frank and open exchanges that we have had with them, including the ones I had with Michael Salberg in Los Angeles earlier this year and Andrew Srulevitch late last year in New York. Unlike many others, ADL has strived for a balanced approach with Hungary.