(19 Jul 2018) Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban met Israel's Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau and various other Jewish religious leaders during the second day of his Israel visit.
Rabbi Lau on Thursday thanked Orban for standing up against anti-Semitism and branded him a "bulwark" in the fight against it.
The Hungarian premier stressed that there is zero tolerance against anti-Semitism in Hungary, and that he was committed to "take steps" against every expression of it.
Earlier on Thursday Orban met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called him a "true friend of Israel" despite the outcry over the visiting leader's past remarks that have been interpreted as anti-Semitic.
The four-time Hungarian premier drew criticism last year for praising Miklos Horthy - Hungary's World War II-era ruler who introduced anti-Semitic laws and collaborated with the Nazis - and employing tropes that were anti-Semitic in tone against billionaire philanthropist George Soros during his re-election campaign.
Orban evoked anti-Semitic language in denouncing Soros, saying that Hungary's enemies "do not believe in work, but speculate with money; they have no homeland, but feel that the whole world is theirs."
Despite global Jewish condemnation of those remarks, Netanyahu praised Orban for combating anti-Semitism and thanked him for Hungary's pro-Israel stance.
Orban has cast himself as champion of a Christian Europe and adopted an aggressive stance to halt the flow of African and Muslim migrants through Hungary.
The populist, right-wing politician campaigned earlier this year for re-election on a staunchly anti-migrant platform.
Protesters were later expected to demonstrate at Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial, during Orban's visit there.
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