Scandal: US ambassador lied about Hungary, but does not apologize
The United States ambassador to the United Nations talked about anti-Jewish vandalism in Hungary committed last week. That accusation was utterly false. Though the Hungarian Foreign Ministry believes the USA owes an apology. But Washington remained silent. Below you may read what happened.
Last weekend, a summit was held at the UN headquarters in New York about the global efforts to contain antisemitism. The host was Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States ambassador to the United Nations. She started her speech with Hungary, saying that a Holocaust memorial was vandalised in Hungary the previous week. Then she highlighted that anti-Jewish hatred was widespread, and some political leaders even use it online and offline.
A Hungarian delegation took part in the meeting, but the American host did not allow them to speak. As a result, after the session, the Hungarian diplomats asked Linda Thomas-Greenfield what she referred to in her speech. Behind closed doors, the Americans admitted they committed a mistake and that the incident they mentioned, happened in Sweden. However, despite the Hungarian embassy’s notice, the USA did not publicly correct their mistake. Based on a document index.hu acquired, American diplomacy seems to regard it as a closed case. They crossed the line referring to Hungary in the official minutes, and that’s all.
Máté Paczolay, the spokesperson of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry, said that a public correction and apology would be a minimum in such a revolting issue. Based on their information, the speechwriter committed the mistake. If there was no purposefulness, it is incomprehensible why the Americans do not issue an official statement.
Earlier, the Hungarian Foreign Minister, Péter Szijjártó, and the American Ambassador in Budapest, David Pressman, had a dispute. Pressman said the Hungarian government spoke about peace but supported the Russian stance regarding Ukraine. Furthermore, the government protects Russian oligarchs, which is not in the interest of Hungary. Szijjártó replied that the American ambassador’s views on Hungary’s domestic policies were irrelevant because the country was a sovereign state.
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Source: index.hu