Leader of Hungary’s anti-Semitic party discovers he’s Jewish

Fallen humanity is prone to blame-shifting. Taken to the extreme this becomes racism or anti-Semitism—an entire racial or ethnic group is blamed for our problems. Jesus warned us about finding the “splinter” in someone’s eye, while neglecting the “log” in our own. The following news item reports an extreme example. It also points out typical human reactions to such revelations—denial and cover-up. Yet, as members of evangelical Churches in Toronto can testify, the best course of action when confronted with our failures is repentance and seeking God’s salvation. ---Nigel Tomes Anti-Semite discovers his Jewish Roots Edited from Pablo Gorondi, Associated Press, Aug., 14, 2012 BUDAPEST, HUNGARY—As the star in Hungary’s far-right Jobbik Party, Csanad Szegedi was notorious for his incendiary comments against Jews: He accused them of “buying up” the country, railed about the “Jewishness” of the political elite and claimed Jews were desecrating Hungary’s national symbols. Then came a revelation that knocked him off his perch as ultra-nationalist standard-bearer: Szegedi himself is a Jew. Following weeks of Internet rumors, Szegedi acknowledged that his grand-parents on his mother’s side were Jews — making him one under Jewish law, even though he doesn’t practice the faith. His grand- mother was an Auschwitz survivor and his grand- father a veteran of forced labor camps. Political Career Collapses over Cover-Up The 30-year-old has become an outcast in the extremist Jobbik party and his political career is on the brink of collapse. The root of the drama is a 2010 audio tape which confronted Szegedi with evidence of his Jewish roots. Szegedi sounds surprised, then offers money in exchange for keeping quiet. Under pressure, Szegedi resigned from all party positions and gave up his Jobbik membership. That wasn’t good enough for the party: It asked him to give up his seat in the European Parliament. “We have no alternative but to ask him to return his EU mandate,” said Jobbik’s president.  Jobbik says its issue is the suspected bribery, not his Jewish roots. Founding Member of Pro-Nazi Party Szegedi was a founding member of the Hungarian Guard, a group whose black uniforms recall the Arrow Cross, a pro-Nazi party which governed Hungary at the end of World War II and killed thousands of Jews. 550,000 Hungarian Jews were killed in the Holocaust, most of them sent to death camps like Auschwitz. The Hungarian Guard was banned in 2009… Szegedi’s experience is not unique: Russian far-right firebrand Vladimir Zhirinovsky was anti-Semitic until he acknowledged in 2001 that his father was Jewish. Szegedi acknowledged his Jewish origins in interviews with Hungarian media… He’s since had a long conversation with his grandmother about her family’s past as Orthodox Jews. “It …dawned on me that my grandmother really is Jewish,” Szegedi told Hungary’s TV. “I asked her how the deportations happened. She was in Auschwitz and Dachau and she was the only survivor in the extended family.” In Denial Judaism is traced from mother to child, meaning that under Jewish law Szegedi is Jewish. In a Hungary TV interview, Szegedi denied ever making anti-Semitic statements, but his speeches and media appearances prove otherwise. In a Nov. 2010, Szegedi blamed the large-scale privatization of state assets on “people in the Hungarian political elite who shielded themselves in their Jewishness.” In late 2010, he talked about “the problem the radical right has with the Jews.” Szegedi complained that “they want to bring in Israeli residents.” Successful Outcome?—It’s up to him Szegedi met with Rabbi Slomo Koves, leader of Hungary’s Jewish community. “As a rabbi ... it’s my duty to receive every person who’s in …crisis and especially a Jew who has just now faced his heritage,” Rabbi Koves said. During the meeting, Szegedi apologized for any statements which may have offended the Jewish community, and vowed to visit Auschwitz to pay his respects. Koves described the conversation as “difficult and spiritually stressful,” but said he is hopeful for a successful outcome…. “Whether this will occur or not is first and foremost up to him.”