A Hungarian magazine sparked controversy with a recent cover featuring the leader of the country's Jewish community surrounded by falling banknotes.
The pro-government weekly business magazine Figyelo (Observer) used the image for its cover story, which accused the head of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Hungary, Andras Heisler, of misusing the organization's funds.
The affair comes just months after Hungary's President Viktor Orban declared during an official visit to Israel that his country maintains a "zero-tolerance" policy on anti-Semitism and days after Budapest announced it would be investing $1.7 million annually to fight anti-Semitism across Europe.
In a statement, The Prime Minister's Office revealed that a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had condemned the report in a meeting with Hungary's Ambassador to Israel Levente Benko.
Among those to speak out against the magazine cover on Twitter were Jewish Agency head Isaac Herzog, who said the agency was "appalled by the anti-Semitic insinuations made against Andras Heisler. … This unacceptable stereotypic[al] smear must be rejected and fought by all persons of good will."
Opposition leader Tzipi Livni remarked that "the Israeli government must return to the forefront in the war against anti-Semitism. No Israeli interest can justify turning a blind eye. An attack on our brothers is an attack on us. It's the moral and historic imperative of the state of the Jewish people and demands action."
In a statement, World Jewish Congress CEO Robert Singer said, "The portrayal of Andras Heisler, the elected head of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Hungary and a vice-president of the WJC, in both an article and on the cover of Figyelo, conjures up the worst memories in contemporary history and makes a mockery of the Hungarian government's praiseworthy pledge to combat anti-Jewish bigotry."
Singer said that "in publishing this offensive magazine cover, the editors of Figyelo and anyone else who approved it are giving a voice to the most reprehensible anti-Semitic dog whistles imaginable.
"The WJC demands that the publishers of Figyelo issue an immediate apology to Mr. Heisler and to the Hungarian Jewish community, and we expect the Hungarian government to act energetically and publicly to combat all such manifestations of antisemitism," Singer said. "The WJC has already set in motion diplomatic initiatives to address this disgraceful turn of events."
American Jewish Committee Director and special envoy on combating anti-Semitism for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Rabbi Andrew Baker said, "Jews with money is a familiar, disgraceful anti-Semitic trope."
"This attack on Hungary's Jewish community is shameful, especially since Prime Minister Orban has declared a 'zero tolerance policy' on anti-Semitism," Baker said.
