A new video has surfaced that shows Dániel Z. Kárpát, the deputy leader of the opposition Jobbik party, making a quick Nazi salute and then laughing, pro-Fidesz news site Mandiner reports, citing an article from Jewish Voice.
The online version of American Jewish newspaper, the Jewish Voice, has recently published an opinion piece that focuses on the anti-Semitism of the Hungarian opposition party, Jobbik. According to the article, the vice-president of the right-wing party, Dániel Z. Kárpát, is a politician with anti-Semitic views.
To support this claim, the article included a video showing the Jobbik vice-president clearly making a Nazi salute, after which he starts laughing.
The author of the op-ed also points out that the politician is no.10 on the opposition alliance’s joint list for the upcoming elections in Hungary.
The article goes on to mention that Jobbik, originally an extreme right party, has sought to clean up its image and moderate its politics to voters in recent election cycles. But the article concludes that as long as politicians like Dániel Z. Kárpát remain members of Jobbik, the far-right will remain “firmly entrenched” in the party.
Regarding the incident, independent news site Telex managed to reach Kárpát, who wrote the following in a brief reply:
“I have never been a Nazi or an anti-Semite. I myself have accepted the declaration of principle of the people’s party, Jobbik, which reflects a Christian social value system and world view, and is the same as mine. The anti-Semites are in Fidesz, who call the President of Jobbik [Péter Jakab] Jacob because of his Jewish ancestry.”
When TV channel ATV asked Péter Jakab, President of Jobbik, about the video, the leader of the party also referred to the fact that Kárpát accepted Jobbik’s declaration of principle in 2020, which he said was not accepted by the extremists, some of whom have joined the camp of Fidesz since then.
Jakab said that if Kárpát “would have any anti-Semitic feelings, he would not be a member of our community.”
In addition to Kárpát, in recent months, photos of some other Jobbik politicians have surfaced showing them making Nazi salutes.
Last year, during the campaign of the opposition primaries, a photo emerged of Péter Barnabás Farkas, the deputy mayor of Ózd who was also Jobbik’s MP candidate in the region, in which the politician was making a Nazi salute. Later, a similar photo of Ózd’s former Jobbik deputy mayor was also published. Farkas eventually resigned from his post as deputy mayor and did not win the opposition’s primary election.
Featured photo by Tamás Kovács/MTI
