You know, there are certain things that I don’t find amusing, and anti-Semitism is one of them. Apparently, this is not the case for a certain Hungarian Jew.
The background: Stories surfaced a few days ago warning Hungary’s Jews (there are 100,000 of them) to flee the country due to anti-Semitism.
Hungarian Jews were urged to considering leaving during Passover for fear of anti-Semitic attacks. The rise of the far right during recent political upheavals in Hungary prompted local rabbis to post an ad in a Jewish newspaper telling community members to go abroad for the holiday in April.
“We are really afraid of the troubles that will happen on the street during the holiday and think that it is better to leave Budapest or just stay home,” Hungarian Jewish leader Peter Feldmeier told Ma’ariv. “The notice expresses how fed up we are with the strong voices of the Hungarian Nazis and with the anti-Semitic movements in the country, which claim that the Jews are to blame for Hungary’s situation.”
Except it turns out that was supposed to be a Purim joke.
BUDAPEST (EJP)—A call by the leader of the Hungarian Jewish community for Jews to leave the country “for fear of anti-Semitic attacks on the occasion of the national holiday, “was a joke in a Jewish newspaper,†Rabbi Shlomo Köves told European Jewish Press on Friday.
“Jews in Hungary are not afraid and you don’t have to take seriously what was mainly a Purim joke,†he said.
“This is totally far from the reality,†the rabbi of the Chabad community in Budapest, said.
Ha. Ha. What a funny joke, telling Jews that they should flee from persecution. Nobody would ever think that could happen.
Peter Feldmajer, head of Mazsihisz, one of the largest Jewish organisations, was quoted in the Jewish local newspaper Ujelet as saying Jews should stay at home or leave the country for their own safety on March 15, which marks the a national holiday .
“We are advising people, especially if they are elderly not to go out, to stay at home,” he said.
“If you followed the events, they constantly blamed Jews for all Hungary’s problems with the harshest words,” he added.
On March 15, the main parliamentary right-wing opposition Fidesz party and radical fringe groups plan anti-government rallies.
Several Jewish and Israeli media took Fedmajer’s warning seriously, saying that Jews were urged to leave the country for the upcoming Jewish holiday of Pessach or Passover.
Feldjmejer later admitted that this was a “joke†and said he wanted only to focus attention on this problem.
Ha. Ha. Again. My sides are simply splitting from the incredible humor of Jews being persecuted. Please pardon me while I wipe away the tears of laughter.
Today’s Moron of the Week award goes to: Fledjmejer.
Idiot.
How incredibly asinine. About as funny as watching one burn to death or choke for a breath of fresh air in a gas chamber before one’s eyes.
An excellent selection for your Moron of the Week. I try to make it a rule of thumb not to bash my own kind, but clearly he was most deserving.
Fledjmejer should have talked it over with Professor Toaff first.
Ha. Maybe he did.
A joke? Or claiming it was a joke after the fact as damage control? We may never know…