Hungarian Parliament passes resolution condemning Hamas' attack on Israel

With 168 votes in favour, 2 against and 4 abstentions, the Hungarian Parliament has adopted a resolution condemning terrorism on Wednesday. The proposal was supported by Fidesz, KDNP, DK, MSZP, Jobbik, Párbeszéd and LMP MPs, with Ákos Hadházy and Előd Novák voting against and the remaining Mi Hazánk MPs abstaining. The political resolution condemning terrorism and standing up for the victims was submitted to Parliament by Fidesz following an announcement made by Fidesz group leader Máté Kocsis.

The declaration condemns the terrorist attack orchestrated by Hamas against Israel. "Hungary condemns terrorists and stands with the victims. The victims of terrorism have the right to defend themselves and to take the necessary steps to ensure that such an attack does not happen again," the resolution states, adding that Hungary recognises Israel's right to self-defence, but stresses that the war against terrorists must not become a war between states. “The peace process based on the Abraham Accords, which marked a historic breakthrough in the settlement of relations between Israel and the Arab countries, must be sustained.”

The declaration also mentions refugees: according to Fidesz, "the masses of people who have been allowed into Europe without any checks, which include terrorists, proxies of Hamas and other terrorist organisations, represent a direct and serious threat to the security of European citizens and the continent".

“This is a direct consequence of an irresponsible and misguided migration policy.”

They claim that Hungary has always fought terrorism "and has treated members of these organisations as terrorists by not allowing them to enter the country". However, they fail to mention the resettlement bond programme linked to Antal Rogán, Minister of the Prime Minister's Cabinet Office.

Prime Minister Orbán has previously said that Israel has the right to defend itself in the face of a terrorist attack. In our analysis, we previously pointed out that the Hungarian government did not take such a clear stand in favour of Ukraine's sovereignty and right to self-defence when it was attacked by Russia.

Reactions from the opposition

In a press release sent to Telex, DK (opposition party Demokratikus Koalíció) said that as early as a week and a half ago they announced that they would submit a draft resolution to Parliament to condemn the terrorist attack on Israel and to declare Hamas a terrorist organisation. "This has since been submitted, but in the meantime the Orbán government has come to its senses and has submitted its own proposal on the issue. The government's proposal contains some highly objectionable parts and fails to declare Hamas a terrorist organisation, so DK has submitted a number of amendments to the government's proposal. These amendments were voted down by the Fidesz majority in the Legislative Committee last night, but given the gravity of what happened, we decided to support this resolution despite all our objections on its shortcomings – all of which we will express during the debate," they wrote, adding that they would vote for Fidesz's resolution despite the above.

They added that they do not see “why the government doesn't consider Hamas, which murders innocent civilians, women and children, a terrorist organisation, nor do we understand why the government is introducing the issue of migration when discussing terrorism, especially after the Hungarian authorities have releases 1,400 convicted human traffickers from prison.”

The opposition party Momentum stated in advance that while it strongly condemns the terrorist attack on Israel and expresses solidarity with the victims, it believes that "the political declaration of Fidesz presented to Parliament conflates terrorism and immigration, which is not a solution to the existing crisis, but an act in line with the government's own domestic political interests". They added that Momentum's parliamentary group would not participate in the vote.