Hungary to Move Embassy to Jerusalem in Bid to Support Netanyahu’s Judicial Reforms

orban israel
DEBBIE HILL/AFP via Getty Images
Joel B. Pollak

Hungary will relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as part of an effort to show support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing aggressive left-wing protests over his judicial reforms.

The move will make Hungary the first member of the European Union to move its embassy to Jerusalem a move that Europe has largely resisted since President Donald Trump first moves the U.S. embassy in 2018.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is considered a close ally of Netanyahu, is also acting to shore up judicial reforms that have been likened to some of the reforms that he has instituted in his own country.

The Times of Israel reports:

Hungary will move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem next month, apparently in a special gesture to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban.

…

Senior Foreign Ministry sources who confirmed the planned embassy transfer linked the move to Orban’s desire to help out Netanyahu, granting the premier a diplomatic achievement amid political instability over his government’s contentious plans to overhaul Israel’s judicial system.

…

Comparisons between the two countries have again come to the fore as Netanyahu’s new government seeks to advance proposals that would limit the power of Israel’s judiciary, similar to ones pushed by Orban over the past decade in Hungary.

The Israeli reforms aim to create stronger checks and balances to rein in courts that have become bastions of left-wing power, and which critics say has usurped the authority of the legislature and executive in recent years.

Many of these reforms simply reflect existing practices in the U.S. and elsewhere. However, the Israeli left has launched a series of increasingly aggressive protests as it accuses Netanyahu of attempting to foment a “coup.”

On Wednesday, hundreds of protesters blocked Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, from leaving a hair salon. She had to be rescued by police.

Faced with such tactics, Netanyahu’s right-wing government has strengthened its resolve.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

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