The success of Israel's anti-terrorist operations is a global interest, as it would help to ensure that a similar terrorist attack never happened anywhere ever again, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced on Monday in Brussels.
According to a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Minister of Foreign Affairs emphasized at a press conference following the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting that Hungary's position is crystal clear: we must not forget what triggered the conflict of the Middle East.
"A country woke up one morning, more than hundred days ago, of being fired by thousands of rockets, and hundreds of people being abducted, hundreds of people being killed in a beastly way," he recalled.
He underlined that the success of Israel's counter-terrorism operations is a global interest, as it can help the world to ensure that such terrorist attacks are never repeated anywhere, ever again.
"Therefore, we find Israel’s objective to destroy Hamas not only understandable, but also legitimate, and of a global interest (...)Those who use people, especially women and children, as human shields after committing a terrorist attack against a country, should feel shame", he stressed.
"It is a global interest to return to the Abraham Accords as soon as possible, namely to the normalization of relations between Israel and the Arab world," he added.
At the Council meeting, Szijjártó confirmed the Hungarian position on two issues. "First and foremost, we call for the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages who are still in captivity," he said.
In this context, he added that one Hungarian citizen was still being held captive, and was hopefully alive.
He also underlined that the government remains in constant contact with Qatar and another important mediating country, adding that he would not name the country due to the sensitivity of hostage negotiations."I also made it clear that Hungary considers the Hague proceedings against Israel to be nonsense. It is nonsense to accuse of genocide a country that has been the victim of a bestiary terrorist attack," he said.
Finally, the Minister said that Israel had asked Hungary to allow the Jewish national football teams to play some of their official matches in the country, as they did last year.
He informed, that Hungary would host Israel's European Championship play-off match against Iceland, the Israeli under-21 team's match against Poland, and the next official match of the women's national team. Also, the Hungarian government supports Maccabi Haifa to play their next European Conference League match in Hungary.
"Everyone is safe in Hungary, and I think it has been fully proven recently. So those are obviously lying, who still say that anti-Semitism is rising in Hungary." he said.
Source: MTI-Hungarian News Agency
