The head of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) on Thursday said that appointment of Hungarian far-right publicist P�ter Szentmih�lyi Szab� as Hungary�s ambassador to Italy was �clearly an affront to Jews�. WJC President Ronald Lauder urged Italy to refuse the accreditation of Szentmih�lyi Szab�, who has penned anti-Semitic texts in the past. �A man who suggests that Hungary�s Jews are �agents of Satan�, �greedy, envious, evil and ugly� is not fit to represent his country abroad, and Prime Minister Viktor Orb�n would be well-advised to withdraw this man as soon as possible and look for a person who is suitable for this job,� said Lauder.

�It is particularly sad and irritating that Hungary, which declared 2014 as Holocaust memorial year, is once again in the news with this sort of thing. How can an anti-Semite represent a government whose leader pledged a policy of zero tolerance toward anti-Semitism?� Lauder asked, referring to Orb�n�s speech before the World Jewish Congress Plenary Assembly in Budapest in May 2013. He said decisions such as this would do further damage to Hungary�s reputation abroad and �does not inspire confidence that the Orb�n government means business when it says it will fight anti-Semitism.�

The WJC leader expressed hope that, given Italy�s history and strong commitment to fight racial hatred and anti-Semitism, the Italian government would not accept an outspoken extremist and Jew-hater as a member of the diplomatic corps in Rome.

The appointment by Budapest of the 69-year-old Szentmih�lyi Szab� comes after a recent decision by the Hungarian government to build a controversial World War II monument that obfuscates Hungary�s role in the deportation of Jews to the Nazi death camps in 1944.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)