Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has described accusations of anti-Semitism by the Hungarian authorities on the part of the US ambassador to the country, David Pressman, as crossing a “red line” that Budapest is not prepared to tolerate because it is not “one of the stars” on the American flag.
“Between us, whether David Pressman has a greater right to accuse us of anti-Semitism or (should) we raise this issue in relation to America, seeing the events of the last weeks and months there… This is such a crossing of the ‘red line’ and such a serious insult to us by Mr Ambassador that we are not obliged and not ready to bear it,” Szijjártó said.
He emphasised that Hungary “gives work permits to ambassadors, not to viceroys”.
“We are an independent state, not one of the stars on the blue background (of the US flag). Let this be clear to everyone,” Szijjártó added.
Hungarian Foreign Ministry state secretary in charge of bilateral relations Tamás Menczer earlier rejected accusations of anti-Semitism from the US embassy and said Hungary was not America’s 51st state and Pressman was not a viceroy.
Pressman earlier noted that it was an important moment for Hungary to determine its future path and urged Budapest to strengthen relations with Western allies. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has previously said that Budapest is interested in maintaining ties with Russia for as long as possible, but no one can say whether this will succeed.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, during a visit to Sarajevo, called it shocking and outrageous that the US State Department makes reports on the state of human rights in other countries based on one-sided information, which in turn is financed by the US itself, and interferes in the internal affairs of other states.
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