Peter Magyar has ended Viktor Orbán’s 16-year tenure as Hungary’s prime minister, sending an ally of President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu packing after a decisive vote on April 13.
Israel did not play a prominent role in the election, which centered on issues related to democracy, Hungary’s relationship to Europe and Russia, and corruption.
It is also seen as unlikely that Peter Magyar will substantially alter Hungary’s relationship to Israel.
He is a conservative who was a member of Orbán’s Fidesz party for two decades and has said little to indicate any particular position on Israel or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
For some Jewish voters, Magyar’s silence was a turnoff for his new Tisza party, even as it rocketed higher in polls.
“I don’t hear anything from them about Jews, about Israel, about immigration, education or healthcare, or what they will do when they come to power,” said Rabbi Joseph Frolich, who heads the historic Dohany Street Synagogue in Budapest.
He said he would vote for a liberal party that was not projected to win many seats in parliament.
Other Jewish voters said they were torn because of Orbán’s support for Israel and their perception that Jews in Hungary are safer than their counterparts in the rest of Europe.
Even as he has not been a critic of Israel, Magyar is unlikely to be as forceful an ally of Netanyahu as Orbán has been.
Last year, Orbán invited Netanyahu to Budapest in part to signal defiance against the International Criminal Court, which had recently issued an arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister.
The invitation was part of Orban’s broad campaign against the EU and international institutions.
Orbán’s defeat may signal a setback for right-wing governments elsewhere.Those on the left and center may take Hungarian voters’ repudiation of Orbán as a sign that they may achieve their own electoral ambitions.
Netanyahu did not immediately comment publicly on the election results, though his Diaspora minister, Amichai Chikli, who has been a big booster of Orbán, tweeted that the election results proved that Orbán was not a dictator, as some of his critics have charged.
The leader of the Israeli opposition, Yair Lapid, who is hoping to achieve similar results in Israel’s elections later this year, weighed in: “Congratulations to @magyarpeterMP and the Tisza Party on their victory in the Hungarian elections!” he tweeted.
“I hope that under your leadership, the relations between Israel and Hungary will continue to deepen and strengthen. Best of luck!”
Netanyahu and Magyar held a “warm” introductory call on Wednesday, according to Netanyahu’s office, which said that Magyar invited Netanyahu to participate in a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Hungarian Uprising, while Netanyahu invited Magyar to a government-to-government (G2G) meeting in Jerusalem.
