Speaking in Tel Aviv before representatives of the local Hungarian community, Minister of Human Capacities Zoltán Balog highlighted the two peoples’ love of freedom, praised the heyday of Jewish life in Hungary and spoke about passing on traditions to future generations and about successful cooperation between Hungary and Israel at a reception at the Hungarian Embassy in Tel Aviv on Thursday evening.
Mr. Balog greeted the local Hungarians with a prayer in Hebrew. He said this was the sixth time he had been to Israel “which is also a dangerous country because once someone has visited, they then have the urge to visit again and again”.
The Minister praised the special relationship between the two countries and highlighted the fact that security issues will also be of great importance in Hungary in future. He stressed that the Hungarian community in Israel, which has rich cultural traditions, a unique Central European Jewish religious, cultural and ethnic identity, is important to Hungary and to the Hungarian Government, and that continuity and maintaining relations will also be an important issue for the community’s future generations.
“Jews and Hungarians, Jewish Hungarians and Hungarian Jews stand together in celebrating freedom, because the suffering for freedom was endured together 169 years ago”, he said, commemorating the Revolution and War of Independence of 1848-49.
“All of the Hungarian Jewry stood up collectively in support of Hungarian independence, and they were the only ethnic group in Hungary to be collectively punished by the Austrians”, he added.
Mr. Balog praised the period around the turn of the 20th century, when “a wonderful blooming began, a blooming in Jewish Hungarian scientific, cultural and public life, a blooming of public life in the arts, the sciences, in literature and in music”.
He highlighted the love of freedom and suffering to achieve freedom as joint characteristics of Hungarian and Jewish history. The Minister stressed the importance of future cooperation within several fields of the economy; in the IT sector, medical science and pharmaceutical research.
Mr. Balog said the commemoration of great historical moments that link the two nations was a keys to true success. “If this common human traditions continues to exist while we say no to evil and to what is a shameful stain in the history of Hungary and Europe, we will meanwhile be able to celebrate our joint achievements”, he stressed.
“My wish is that Hungary should have as many friends as possible in Israel and Israel should have as many friends as possible in Hungary. I trust that you regard me as a friend and you can count on me”, the Minister of Human Capacities said at the close of his speech.
Prior to the Minister’s speech, children from the weekend Hungarian school organised by the Embassy recited Hungarian poems and Ambassador Andor Nagy reported on the foundation set up to operate the school.
Mr. Balog will be holding a series of talks in Israel until Sunday and began work prior to the reception at the Embassy, first meeting with Minister of Health Yaakov Litzman. During their meeting, the two politicians discussed demographic issues and agreed on expert cooperation in the interests of gaining knowledge concerning Israeli artificial insemination procedures.
The parties also agreed that a Hungarian delegation would be examining Israeli healthcare crisis management methods, such as methods applied during a terrorist attack or an epidemic, in addition to which they also discussed medical training in view of the fact that hundreds of young Israelis are studying medicine at Hungary’s medical universities.