Hungary’s Jewish community has had a rocky relationship with the country’s nationalist-populist government; even on occasion criticising Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s provocative rhetoric. Orban has defended himself against accusations of fomenting antisemitism by pointing to his strong relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Orban leapt to Netanyahu’s defence when, in November 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for his arrest on war crimes charges stemming from the invasion of Gaza. In response, Orban invited the Israeli leader for an official state visit and announced plans to officially leave the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the ICC.

Landa himself, whose business connections in US President Donald Trump’s native New York State helped him secure the nomination, has also cultivated a reputation for supporting not just Netanyahu, but also more extremist leaders in Israel’s current governing coalition.

On May 5, Landa hosted a meeting at his New York home between Israeli Defence Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and local political officials. Ben-Gvir has been convicted in Israel for racism and supporting an anti-Arab terrorist organisation. His Jewish Power (Otzma Yehudit) political party has called for encouraging Arabs to emigrate from Israel. Although Ben-Gvir has tried to moderate his image, columnists like Esther Solomon in Haaretz, James Zogby in The Nation, and Eva Illouz in Le Monde have called him a “fascist” for his anti-Arab views.

During their May meeting, Ben-Gvir thanked Landa for their “years of friendship”, according to the New York Orthodox Jewish news outlet Frum.com, which has since taken down the report of Landa’s visit from Ben Gvir. However, a screenshot of the article quotes Landa’s endorsement of Ben Gvir’s political platform: “We are hoping that this tzadik [righteous person] will one day become the next Prime Minister of Israel.”

Narrowed debate about the war in Gaza

As ambassador, will Landa be motivated by his affinity for Ben-Gvir’s political views to discourage criticism of current Israeli government policy toward Gaza and the Palestinians?

The question hits home for prominent progressive Jews who have broken with Hungary’s mainstream Jewish leadership over the war. In August, Hungarian musician Vera Jonas and actor Kristof Steiner collected 2,000 signatories for a petition titled, “On behalf of the shared humanity of Palestinians and Jews”. The letter declared all human lives are equally valuable and called on Israel’s government to protect the human rights of both Israelis and Palestinians.

“Yes, we can be pro-Jewish and pro-Palestinian at the same time,” the signatories declared.

The petition also expressed concern that Hungary’s leading Jewish organisations have narrowed the debate about the war in Gaza. Hungarian Jewish organisations promoted opinions about the war from one side of Israel’s political spectrum, according to community organiser Adam Schonberger. “They represent not merely a right-wing standpoint, but also in very many instances an extremely right-wing standpoint,” Schonberger says, adding that he signed the petition partly out of frustration.

“A large part of the Jewish community does not agree with the way that the Israeli government has pursued the war,” Schonberger tells BIRN. As the petition gained a larger audience and more signatories, Schonberger says he was glad to help draw attention to internal disagreements.

Zsuzsa Fritz, the retired director of Budapest’s Jewish Community Center (JCC), was also an early supporter of the petition. Before the petition went public, she had felt horror as participants in conversations about Israeli war policy used increasingly uncivil language. Fritz continues to leads programs at the JCC, where she observed increasing silence and fear in response to the online vitriol.

“The moment someone is expressing a more nuanced opinion and talks about the suffering in Gaza, immediately people jumped on them, calling them an antisemite, an anti-Zionist, a self-hating Jew.”

Until she participated in the petition, Fritz admitted that she would have included herself among those who “don’t dare to say anything” because of these “strong emotional reactions”.

“I personally signed the petition because I was terrified by what I saw on social media platforms,” Fritz tells BIRN.

Unlikely an ally for all Jews

News of Landa’s close ties to Israeli right-wing extremists have led Schonberger and Fritz to be sceptical that Landa would be an ally to those calling for dialogue. While Fritz urges the incoming ambassador to listen to these critics of current Israeli government policy, Schonberger expects he will keep his distance and adopt a more conventional ambassadorial role.

“According to my experience,” Fritz says, “ambassadors can have a really important influence on the community.”

The Hungarian Jewish community is split, and few community leaders can foster relationships with the groups representing different perspectives. Ambassadors, by contrast, typically stand above the fray and enjoy access to every part of the community. Moreover, ambassadors can use their schedule to express support. They receive frequent requests to attend events. They can lend prestige to a marginal initiative, for example, by accepting these invitations.

According to Fritz, ambassadors’ individual inclinations matter in this area. “There have been ambassadors in the past who were really inspiring and motivating dialogue.” Fritz observes.

But she is sceptical about Landa taking such an approach. “I don’t think he will be someone who is very open to dialogue,” Fritz predicts. She anticipates that Landa will find an echo of his own views among the large majority of Hungarian Jews who are, in her words, “thinking very radically” about the war in Gaza. “But that’s not a dialogue,” she notes, “that’s just one more person inside the bubble.”

“I hope that this won’t be the case,” Fritz says, “because there is a part of the community that thinks differently from him about the situation in Gaza and in the world at large.”

Schonberger believes it more likely that Landa’s ambassadorship will be conventional. Most ambassadors, no matter their previous experience, avoid public statements that would contradict official US foreign policy. Schonberger grants that Landa may be guided by his extremist views in private interactions.

“His character is to support extreme right-wing forces or religious Zionist forces in Israel,” Schonberger anticipates. “Certainly, it will give the American ambassador the chance to emphasise one particular side.”

However, such an approach would go against official American policy, which, even under the strongly pro-Netanyahu Trump administration, still affirms the idea of separate Palestinian and Israeli states. “He’ll either avoid intervening or he’ll do it behind closed doors,” reckons Schonberger.

Airing dirty laundry

Rabbi Zoltan Radnoti, who leads Budapest’s Beit Shalom Synagogue (Neolog movement), did not sign the petition. He faults the authors for going public with this private conflict. “The petition’s weak point,” he tells BIRN, “is that Jews are warring with each other in a newspaper.”

Radnoti also questions the original authors’ identity, based on the halakha Jewish law and tradition. “They are giving voice to those who, according to halakha, aren’t actually Jewish. They’re merely Jewish sympathisers.” It’s wrong to divide the Jewish community during wartime, he adds.

But Radnoti still hopes that Landa will adopt an open attitude. “He shouldn’t be biased. He belongs to Chabad, which isn’t as strong in Hungary as it is in the US.”

Many Hungarian Jews relocated to cities in the 19th century. The majority of religious Jews today belong to an urban and assimilated Neolog movement. While noting Landa’s affiliation with the Chabad branch of Orthodox Judaism, Radnoti also urges Landa to learn about the particular character and history of the majority of religiously observant Hungarian Jews. “If [Landa] looks for advisors, he should take them from every movement,” Radnoti says.

Despite the petition’s success in broadening the debate about the current Israeli government’s Gaza policy, the community activist Schonberger says that there is a still a great deal of work to be done. Hungary’s Jewish community is far from sustaining a truly public dialogue about the war. “Right now, everyone is just giving their own opinion and people are talking past each other. There’s less in the way of inquiry or getting acquainted with the other side’s opinion,” he says.

The petition has raised awareness, but extremist demands to support Israel’s current war policy have left many reluctant to engage each other in a serious way. “It would be possible to solve this problem with a professional facilitator, but the appropriate actor has not yet emerged,” Schonberger says.

Dr Marc Roscoe Loustau (www.marcloustau.org) is a cultural anthropologist and expert on Eastern European religion and politics. He is the author of the Substack newsletter, At the Edges with Marc Loustau. He has given commentary for the BBC and France 24, and he is a repeat guest on the Fast Politics Podcast with Molly Jong-Fast. His opinion articles and reported features have appeared in Balkan Insight/Reporting Democracy, the Christian Science Monitor, America: The Jesuit Review, La Croix International, the Christian Century, The Tablet, and the National Catholic Reporter.

The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of BIRN.