Kovacs: ‘Anti-Semitism decade-long tradition of European left’

“We are going to witness a new era in Western Europe and the United States, related to the attitude of Muslim immigrants who arrived there in large numbers,” he said in the interview recorded on Wednesday.

He said that “in the most surprising events, Palestinians and Arabs are marching in the streets from Sydney to New York, from Manchester to Dusseldorf, hailing the attacks and the murder of more than a thousand Israelis”. At the same time, politicians and the public in western Europe look on confused and shocked, he said.

“It will be very difficult for them to do anything about it because most of those people are most probably citizens of those countries with a vote.”

“It is not about being anti-Israeli, it is about anti-Semitism,” he said, adding that left-wing groups in the European Parliament are also expected to call for support for Palestine.

“The West built itself a trap we must avoid at all cost,” said Kovacs, adding the spread of anti-Semitism should serve as yet another “strong argument” against illegal migration. He said recent developments justified anti-migration steps, insisting that “our position is valid and should be maintained, or else we are going to drift into the conflicts”.

He said further terrorist attacks could be expected in big western European cities where local internal conflicts in society prevail.

Kovacs called the terrorist organisation Hamas’s attack on Israel “a new level of ruthlessness and baseness”. The attack will reshape the situation in Israeli-Palestinian relations and the region’s future, he said.

“We have talked much about the era of dangers. Covid and the war in Ukraine brought things we thought (…) we wouldn’t have to face. The events in Israel now brought a new element to that era,” he said.

He slammed the Western European and EU approach as “hypocritical”.

“The European Union is one of the biggest supporters of the Palestinian Authority,” he said.

Hamas, besides the Palestinian Authority, is the “organiser and operator of local life” in Palestine, he said. The EU funding sent there is channelled to the group “in some form”, he insisted.

The EU, however, “is willing to look the other way” when the funding, well over 400 million euros a year, is “probably used for terror purposes amid a lack of transparency”, and so the monies will keep flowing even after those “unacceptable and unspeakable events”, he said.

Meanwhile, within Europe, “the Polish and us don’t get any money” under the excuse of rule-of-law regulations, Kovacs said. Hungary’s funding is being withheld under false pretences, “because it is crystal clear that Hungary has fulfilled all obligations,” he added.