Ábel Bede has published an article describing the “anti-liberal” roots of Jobbik for the English language Eastern-European news portal Kafkadesk.
Bede correctly states that “led by charismatic Gábor Vona, Jobbik communicated a heavily anti-EU message while engaging in anti-Roma racism and explicit homophobia. Its alliance with paramilitary organisations and Jobbik’s ideology that some would describe as ethnonationalism often resulted in an intimidating sight.”
However, Bede also claims that “the party now appears as the most popular political party in some polls largely thanks to Jakab’s successful media appearances and stirring Jobbik in a new direction: long gone is the far-right worldview or 2018’s moderate conservatism.”
In reality, Jobbik’s
- president, Péter Jakab has a history of making anti-Semitic and anti-Roma statements,
- deputy president, Márton Gyöngyösi is a self-described anti-Zionist who called for making a list of Jewish MPs and who called Gaza a “concentration camp” run by Israel in 2018,
- chairman György Szilágyi has called for the banning of the Simon Wiesenthal Institute in Hungary,
- chairman Dániel Z. Kárpát has spoken of a secret Israeli plan to conquer Hungary.