Kategória: English

Summary Gábor T. Szántó’s editorial Alternative” describes the new elements of the Jewish cultural scene in Budapest: the Jewish theatre, the Keset conference (the Hungarian Limmud) and a new cafe called „Sirály” (Seagull): „Here in Sirály they are going to have a small Jewish library upstairs, as well as a read­ing room, and they have […]

Summary In connection with the “revolution” at Kossuth tér (demonstration outside the Parliament) János Gadó claims: ..Through the aggressive street demonstrations, the opposi­tion reflects a very bad picture of itself, not of the govern­ment. All this is a blow at democracy, because at the time of a lack of confidence and an economic crisis, each […]

Summary Along with the rest of the Hungarian media Szombat deals with the upcoming local elections. „Újlipótváros: a place where even right wing representatives are Jewish” is the title of an article by Peter Szego, who interviewed three candi­dates from Budapest’s 13th district. The three interviewees: David Merker (liberal), György Szabó (right wing), and Julianna […]

Summary The first section of this month’s issue of Szombat is dominated by the Israel-Lebanon conflict: two different viewpoints are presented. György Konrád claims in his essay under the title ’’What may come after the rockets? More rockets?”: ”Perhaps radical Islamists find the existence of the state of Israel unacceptable. But why should thinking people […]

Summary In our June issue, two of our colleagues publish analysises of the parliamentary elections and their consequences in Hungary and in Israel. „In the April of 2006 the elections created a situation which changed the stabilizing force of the Hungarian political system alto­gether. It was the first time that government parties managed to win […]

Summary János Gadó’s editorial deals with the elections in Hungary: „The political right wing in Hungary has stirred and – as for anti-Semitic views – it is carefully starting to disconnect from the extreme right which – along with its traditional version – has acquired an updated version of anti-Semitism. The political left is still […]

Summary Parliamentary elections will be held both in Israel and Hungary. Attila Novák warns that the feeling of fear spread­ing among Hungarian Jews interprets the word ’’solidarity” as an excluding one. János Gadó wrote about the murdered young Jewish Frenchman Ilan Halimi, as well as about the background of the murder. In connection with the […]

Summary In his essay „Europe and Israel” the writer György Konrád dis­cusses how modern Europe needs to be responsible for the reborn Jewish state in the Middle East, and puts the question: „The most recent changes, the radical way of thinking of the new Iranian presi­dent, the electoral victory of Hamas, the almost certainly coordinat­ed […]

Summary In his editorial (Under reconstruction…the liberation keeps going undisturbed) János Gadó writes about the transformation of one-time left-wing ideologies: „In 1989, in the euphoric moments of the lull of Communism, for a moment it seemed that history had ended, and the light between different interpretations of the world has come to an end, and […]

Summary Péter Szegő’s editorial deals with the danger the Iranian president’s public statement means: he denied the Holocaust and called for the destruction of Israel. Szegő believes that “if Iran should become a nuclear power, it will be unpredictable whether they will attack Israel. ” Pál Várnai interviewed Peter Popper, the renowned psychologist. Commenting on […]

Summary Our editorial deals with the challenge represented by Hungarian citizens who want to be represented as Jewish nation­al minority; by the Jewish Community Forum (Zsidó Közösségi Fórum), and by the new religious community: United Hungarian Jewish Congregation (Egyesült Magyarországi Izraelita Hitközség), led by Chabad rabbis. The editorial asks whether the autarchy of the Alliance […]

Summary Attila Novák’s editorial was inspired by a short trip to Tunisia: he comments on the relationship between the West and Islam: „The words of Memmi become too quiet next to the multicultural battle cries which only take what it finds pleasant in different civilizations and cultures, and only those things which are easy to […]