Szijjártó in Jerusalem: accusing Israel of genocide after the hellish attack it experienced is nonsense

Hungary considers the accusations against Israel nonsense and will continue to stand by the country in the international forums where Jerusalem is under attack for the anti-terrorist operations launched after the hellish attack last October, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Jerusalem on Wednesday, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

MTI quotes Szijjártó as saying after his talks with Foreign Minister Israel Katz: "We must not allow such an event to happen again anywhere in the world, at any time in the future (...) This is why we consider it nonsense that certain countries are accusing Israel of genocide, because accusing a country which had to face a hellish terror attack of this magnitude is obviously nonsense," he said.

To an outside observer, from hundreds or thousands of kilometers away, this may look like a geopolitical issue, an armed conflict that somehow has to be resolved, but if one comes here, one will encounter thousands and tens of thousands of human tragedies. And if one comes here, they will be strengthened in their objective to help ensure that this never happens again, anywhere in the world," he emphasized

.The first thing to do, he said, is to support the success of the counter-terrorism operations, as this would provide an opportunity for a return to normalization in the Middle East, a return to the path of the so-called Abraham Accords, which brought back hope for peace in the region following decades of ineffectiveness, but which was halted by the recent attack on Israel.

The minister also spoke of the need to free the hostages as soon as possible. He had also met with the families of Hungarian and Russian hostages and several young survivors. One of the five Hungarian citizens taken hostage is still being held by the terrorists: three others were able to return home and one has died in captivity.

"Let us hope that the conflict in the Middle East will not escalate and that there will be no security risk threatening with the outbreak of a third world war. Because we must not forget that we also live next to such a risk, and if the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East should escalate, then may God save the world from the consequences,"

Szijjártó said, who recognises the importance of defense in the case of Israel, but is less permissive towards Ukraine on the subject. In the past he has regularly deplored helping Ukraine with arms shipments and would like to see Ukraine at the negotiating table with its aggressor as soon as possible.