Mr Pressman is riding the ghost train of history – Zoltán Kovács

Zoltán Kovács, State Secretary for International Communication, did not like the fact that US Ambassador to Hungary, David Pressman perceived anti-Semitism behind the new government billboards featuring Alex Soros and Ursula von der Leyen.

“We don’t need to pin a yellow star onto these posters to understand the context in which they are published and the meaning behind the imagery. It doesn’t take a film critic to understand one of the stories these posters — in this country and in this context — are conveying" – the US ambassador to Hungary said a few days ago at the opening ceremony of ZsiFi, the Budapest Jewish and Israeli Film Festival.

Speaking on the TV show of government pundit Zsolt Bayer, Kovács borrowed PM Viktor Orbán's nickname for the ambassador: "Présember" (in Hungarian: the man who presses).

"Mr. Pressman is riding the ghost train of history and it took him back to the days of the SZDSZ because that's what was fashionable then."

(SZDSZ – the Alliance of Free Democats was a Hungarian liberal party which ceased to exist in 2013) – The State Secretary for International Communication said, adding that since 2010, the Jews living in Hungary know exactly what kind of protection they can expect from this Hungarian state, and "this is not only a good example in international comparison, but is downright exemplary".

In comparison, the State Secretary continued, Jews are being beaten at the most prestigious campuses in the United States, with one individual having succumbed to their injuries. "It's amazing that in light of that, anyone from America has the audacity to say that there is a problem with anti-Semitism in Central Europe, particularly in Hungary”, Kovács concluded.