TRANSCRIPT
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The Rabbi Daniel Lapin Podcast
Episode: Hungary: A Beacon of Christian Identity and Family Values in Europe
Date: 10/10/25 Length: 00:55:32
Daniel Lapin 0:00
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, welcome happy warriors, to the rabbi Daniel Lapin show where I your rabbi, reveal how the world really works. And there are two areas in which it's particularly easy to see how the world really works. And I've always said those two areas are raising children and running a business, and if you don't know what you're doing in either of those two situations, you're not going to raise children. You're going to raise monsters, and you'll let them loose on society. And if you don't know what you're doing in running a business, well, the alternative is pretty obvious. But actually there is a third category as well. And the third category where you really need to know what you're doing and you really need to understand how the world really works, is the area of running a society, running a country and for the longest time, probably maybe for longer, 10 years, I've constantly been joking with Susan that we need to get a home in Hungary. She would constantly laugh at me, and you know why hungry? And I pretended that her family background is from Hungary, which it isn't. I wish it was and you can't believe that we need to go to Hungary. Well, about actually, it was last February. I had the opportunity to be in Washington, and I had the great pleasure of meeting ambassador from the ambassador to the United States from Hungary. And I chatted with him then for a while, and I said to him, you know, if he would consider being on our show, we'd love to do that. He was very grateful about it, and and we finally got on to making this happen now. So welcome Ambassador, and thank you very much indeed for for being on the rabbi Daniel Lapin show.
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 2:00
Thank you very much, Rabbi, it's my honor to talk to you, and I'm very grateful for having been addressed.
Daniel Lapin 2:06
Well, I guess I could say at the outset, you're an ambassador, and that means you speak officially for Hungary. So I suppose I should really say that. I could really say that your being on the show does not mean you agree with my opinions at all.
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 2:25
Well, I mean Rabbi, I think we agree on many different lines, and even if we don't agree, we can agree that we don't agree, but yeah, that's obviously our job is to try to explain who we are and what is behind our narrative, why we are doing what we are doing. I am quite convinced that, having also followed your activity and your opinion about different walks of life, I think we pretty much agree on many, many different things, including how to raise children. Just to refer back to your introduction and tell me about your family? Well, I mean, I've got four children. They are back in Hungary. They are young adults studying there and but of course, we are meeting them quite often at the same time. Of course, for us, it was also very important to be at home for them, not to lose their roots, their identity. For us, Hungarian, it's also very important to to keep our identity, which is a long identity of 1100 years. Yeah, we have a long history to stretch back. But with my wife, we are happily representing our nation, our country, in Washington, DC and and in that context, I'm very happy to share some of our views with the audience. I'm
Daniel Lapin 3:33
very, very pleased, and I had the honor of talking with your wife for a few minutes this morning. And I didn't realize that in addition to being the wife of the ambassador, she's also raising four children.
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 3:45
Yeah, absolutely, she is there as well. Sorry, she is also a warrior that we refer to. Yeah, right. You know, I mean, we say that The Hand That Rocks the crater is the hand that rules the world, and we should always keep it in mind,
Daniel Lapin 4:00
and that's very much the case. And that attitude is probably a little bit of why it is that I am so interested in Hungary and so eager to actually to visit. I really am eager to make that happen, and I will do that. But talking of children, the fertility crisis of the Western world has hit all countries very, very strongly, even countries like Spain and Italy that you might have thought would have some Catholic Foundation, France, Spain, Italy, none of them are managing to have children to replacement level. What is your understanding of Hungary and what is the attitude towards children when you walk in the streets of Budapest, do you see lots of kids around?
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 4:46
Yes, just answering your last question. When I'm walking in Budapest, thankfully, we see a lot of children running around. We see young families, young mothers and fathers with their children at the same time. And of course, the negative trends in demography is also a problem in Hungary, although, for the last 1015, years, I would say, we have reached some remarkable achievements as a result of our very well thought over and very consistent policy. Now, why you know there is, there are less children in in countries like Spain or Italy that you mentioned, which traditionally have been very strong Catholic religious societies. I'm not a sociologist and I'm not a demography expert. To tell you, I have my own opinion and on my own experience, but somehow, following last couple of decades of of our history in Europe and in the Western world, I can say that somehow, with the emergence of welfare societies, better life, higher standards, people have somehow become more selfish because they don't want to share this wealth, the high standard of living, with other people, including their potential children. So we have a lot of misperceptions about, you know, these countries and countries like Ireland, Italy, Spain, but also many other countries. I really don't want to single out countries. We still believe that they are still strong societies where religion God matters a lot. But apparently the case is not so, because less and less children are born, and we have to find an answer. Why is that why people have decided to give up the centuries old traditions of taking, you know, giving over the the legacy from generation to generation, adorable. I mean, as our friends in Israel say, from generation to generation, you know. And the problem is that now Europe and the Western world, I think, including the United States of America is facing this huge challenge. One of the answers to that, because, of course, labor market needs people, and if people are not born, then you have to get people from somewhere, and that's why some believe that they encouraged and forced immigration, including illegal immigration, might be an answer. Now, our experience in Hungary is that this is not the case. I mean, this is not as black and white that you know, just bringing in people, whoever they are, they will replace the missing children that are not born. And of course, it's also related to the very sensitive question of abortion, abortion rights, abortion regulation. I always recall a former US president, Ronald Reagan, one of our favorites, who said that I have noticed that those people who are speaking against or in favor of abortion have already been born. So I mean, no, this is very indicative that how we look at the whole question. And in Hungary, we decided that making polls, of course, trying to get feedback from our society, and we realized that young Hungarians, in large number, in fact, would like to have children and raise a family, but they had, of course, a lot of financial concerns about how they can manage and whether really be enough for them to raise a family buy a house. And we said that if this is the only problem financial concerns that don't worry, we can help. And that's why we introduced a new family policy in Hungary, giving a lot of allowances, lot of incentives for young people, please have children. If you want to have children, don't be afraid of financial concerns. And now, as we speak, if you are a mother with three children in Hungary, you are exempt from all taxes all your life, if you don't pay any tax, if you have three children, and if you are under 25 you don't have to pay taxes. We try to help people and and the policy works. Of course, it doesn't happen overnight, but for the last 15 years, we realized that the number of children are growing, the number of divorces are getting less, and the number of abortion cases are getting less. So it works, but we have to be patient, and we have to be consistent, and that's why we need a strong support from the Hungarian society, which thankfully we have for the time being, and this is where we are trying to cooperate with our partners all over the world. So more than a nutshell, this is how what I can say about Hungary's approach to demography and fertility.
Daniel Lapin 8:57
May I give you my theory and ask you for your response, yes, please. Looking at Israel, do you speak Hebrew? Actually, when you use those Hebrew words, your pronunciation was excellent. Well, I
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 9:08
don't speak Hebrew, unfortunately, but I have been working with the Jewish communities, Jewish organizations, also government level, for the last 15 years, with Israel, with the Jewish community in the US organizations all over Europe. At one point, I was the chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. It's,
Daniel Lapin 9:25
I thought that I wanted to come to that, that you served as the co chair of the Holocaust Memorial Alliance, the remembrance Alliance. Yeah, that's right, yeah.
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 9:35
And, and I picked up some Hebrew, I know, of course, basic words like toda Chaba and Baba ka Shah, and, you know, all these things. And I have one sentence in Hebrew, which I usually ghost with. But, I mean, I can tell you, but I don't know. I mean, for the audience, well, I will tell you anyway. I mean, this is for it. Yes, I learned it from friends. He said, There is one word that I know in Hebrew I
Daniel Lapin 9:57
want to drink some red wine from. Ahmad,
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 10:02
yeah, that's right. I learned it from friends in in Jerusalem, and when I was there, this is the only complete sentence in Hebrew that I remember. I'm usually joking with that seriously. Of course, we have a very strong and I think, very fruitful cooperation with with Israel in the country, maybe Jewish communities in Europe, in the United States and elsewhere, organizational level, at the individual level, because we believe that after what happened to our Jewish friends, our Jewish Hungarian compatriots in the 20th century, this is just the least that we
Daniel Lapin 10:36
have to do. Well, I hope that you did, in fact, enjoy a glass of wine from one of the Israeli wineries. Yeah.
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 10:42
So I did, in fact. I did in fact. And from time to time that I have the opportunity, I do,
Daniel Lapin 10:47
it's such a remarkable thing to me, because I've repeatedly read the description of the holy land from the middle of the 19th century, late 19th century, when the American writer Mark Twain visited, and like many other people during the 19th century, he describes a desolate, empty land where nothing grows. And now, you go there now, and the country is filled with top rate wineries. Absolutely, I'm I'm not a wine expert myself, but it's remarkable how many places are producing what I'm told are good quality wines. Just is extraordinary. But anyway, back to Israel and demography. Israel is one of the only industrialized nations that has a facility rate of well over replaced and it's not just Muslims, it's Jewish Israelis as well. And it's not just religious Israelis, it's all Israelis. So looking at that and some of the other factors here in the United States of America, my theory is that economics and economic incentives is only a part of the problem, but the most important thing needed to get married and have children is a sense of optimism about the future. And the poorest way to be optimistic about the future is through religion. And the reason I say that is because I think the default condition for human beings if you don't raise your children to honor their parents. They won't. They'll go to a therapist and spend $200 an hour talking about how their parents ruined their lives. The natural default condition for people is not courage, but cowardice. And the natural default condition is pessimism, not optimism, and Judaism and Christianity, particularly, I don't know much about other religions, do a great deal towards producing rich and optimism. And so I find in the United States that group both Christian and Jewish, who are devout and fervent in their faith but are not economically secure, have big families. Many people who are secular have adequate and more than adequate, financial resources. They do not get married and have children. Which brings me to what do you think of that? But secondly, I sense not based on reliable data. I don't know, but my sense is that Christianity is enjoying a strong resurgence in in Hungary right now. Any truth to that
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 13:31
at all? Yes, I mean a very interesting thought Rabbi that you just outlined, and some reflections. And I think, yeah, the most basic question is, if you have confidence in God if you have a belief in God, and if you do, then you can only be optimistic, and you don't have to be afraid of the future, including having children raising a family. And this is what we should tell our children in order. Because you cannot force people, of course, to have children, but you can encourage them, and you can dissolve their fear, and also at the government level, while, of course, we have to respect the privacy of people, the individual decisions, and we can never create a perception where people feel that they are forced to have it, but they are encouraged and they are being helped. And this is good. I recall when my grandmother passed away some time ago, and she was a deeply religious person, she told me about having children that don't be afraid of having children if, if God gives you a land, then God will also give you pasture. So don't worry about that. You just believe in that, and then things are settled. Now, of course, religion is a part of the Hungarian identity, and even politically today, we identify as a as a Christian country. Of course, it doesn't mean that all Hungarians, or the majority of Hungarians, are regular church goers, but I would say that, especially if I compare the rate in Hungary to other countries in the West, I think we are still in a better position, or it could be even better. Now, of course, church and state are separated in Hungary as it should be. In a modern political society, but the church is also enjoying a lot of attention from the state, all kinds of churches, including Judaism and Jewish faith. And I'm very proud to say that Hungary can also be identified as a country based on judaeo, Christian traditions, identity and history, because the first Hungarian King already in the 10th century, he converted the previously pagan Hungarians to Christianity. So the first Hungarian King was a strong Christian Catholic Leader, Saint Stephen. Every year, on the 20th of August, we celebrate the birth of Hungary. We celebrate the legacy of King Stephen, the first Hungarian King, and the last Hungarian king in the beginning of the 20th century, who was from the Habsburg dynasty, King Charles, the force was also a very strong Catholic Leader. So I think Christianity, and not only Catholicism, but also Protestantism, very much defined the Hungarian DNA, the Hungarian identity, of course, the 20th century, totalitarian regimes, this internationalism of communism originally coming from the west, and then, of course, putting a dark shadow on Hungary from the east, the Soviet communism. They wanted to destroy everything. They wanted to cancel our culture. They wanted to cancel our history, our identity. And they were very fervently attacking the family, they were firmly attacking church, and of course, priests were prosecuted, persecuted, and they were put in jail. They were tortured, they were killed. And 50 Years of totalitarian communism tried to kill religion in Hungary. But I think now there is, there is a renaissance of religion in Hungary and and this is what we are fighting for, also in Europe, when we are trying to define Europe, I recall about 1015, years ago, leaders of the European Union wanted to draw a constitution of the European Union, and some wanted to refer to God in the preamble, and others were attacking that, that you cannot put God into the European Constitution, whereas in America, You are organizing prayer breakfasts, and you refer to God every day, and in God you trust. I think this is what we have to get back in Europe. And We Hungarians trying to convince our friends that we have to make Europe great again. This is our job. And by the way, currently we are holding the presidency of the European Union, and this is our motto, make Europe great again. And of course, everybody immediately relates it to the to the slogan of the American conservative, who have just very dominantly won the elections. But in fact, we have to make Europe great again. And making Europe great again also is trying to respect our roots, our identity, the legacy that our parents, our grandparents, have left on us everywhere in Europe. So this is what we are working for every
Daniel Lapin 17:43
day. I've always said that Jews have lived for longer, more safely and more prosperously in the United States of America than anywhere in the last 2000 years. I am certain that this is not in spite of America being a Christian country, but because it is a Christian country, and I've always said that America's Bible Belt is the Jews safety belt. And sure enough, those parts of America that are least Christian have become most hostile. For instance, the American University campus. The American University campus got rid of Christianity by about 1960 and today, campuses are the locus of anti semitism in Hungary. If I'm I may be wrong on this, but does the Prime Minister identify as a Christian?
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 18:40
Yes, the Prime Minister is identifies as a Christian, a Protestant Christian. His wife is Roman Catholic. So it's very, in fact, it's very, you know, well,
Daniel Lapin 18:53
that's hugely, hugely influential. If the leader of a country is comfortable identifying religiously, that's tremendous.
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 19:02
Yo, yes. And you know, at the same time, I think that he is the most final Semitic Prime Minister Hungary has ever had in our history. And this is also very important, very indicative. I recall a couple of years ago when there was a case in one of European countries where they wanted to completely ban and terminate kosher slaughter, and the Jewish community in the given country turned to the courts, and the Court ruled against them, and then they took it to the European Court of Justice.
Daniel Lapin 19:31
Excuse me, Amanda, just one second. I just want to explain to the audience what you're alluding to folks the I've often spoken about, I eat meat. I eat only kosher meat, and several there are several requirements for me to be kosher, but one of them is that it has to be slaughtered in accordance with Jewish law. And there isn't a there is a trained person who acts as a slaughter is known as a shock. It. And it is, it is done by means of a very special, super dark night. What has happened in a number of European countries is that, whether it's animal rights activists or people of similar outlook, and there's been an attempt in a number of countries to and to make all animal slaughter uniform, and the ambassadors were talking about the attempt when the court ruled against the Jewish community and in accordance with the law that prohibited Jewish ritual slaughter over meat.
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 20:35
Yes, thank you very much for the clarification, Rabbi and this is the case. But if you ban kosher slaughter, and you cannot eat the meat as a result of the kosher procedure, then the message to you is that you are not welcome to live in that country. And you know, at the time, the president of the Jewish Agency Isaac Herzog, who is currently the president of the State of Israel, he wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Viktor Orban and asking him that you are our last hope because we know that you take religion, identity, traditions, culture seriously, not only Christian but also Jewish culture in Europe. And the prime minister also answered in an open letter that as long as he is in government, he, himself and his colleagues will do utmost, utmost to defend Jewish culture, Jewish life, Jewish identity in Europe and in other European country, they wanted to completely terminate and ban circumcision, then they banned Jewish life. So I think they are really completely irresponsible, and they don't care about people having a tradition. I'm very happy to say that in Hungary, this is not the case. In Hungary, I'm very proud to say that there is a renaissance of Jewish life in community sense, in cultural sense, in religious sense, in many countries in the world, synagogues are being protected by police against attacks. Now in Hungary, we are building synagogues. We are not destroying it. We are renovating and I would say that if you are a Jewish person, you can really live very freely, live your Jewish identity. And you know, we have been attacked for the last 30 years by the radical left and radical liberals that we are anti semitic. Case and the current Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu, when he visited Budapest, it was in 2017 first of all, I think a politician like Bibi Netanyahu never visits a country which is anti semitic number one. But when he was there, the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, said in a press statement that, Mr. Prime Minister, I can assure you that it can never happen again in Hungary, that the state does not defend her own citizens, like it happened during the Showa during the Holocaust. It can never happen. We have we lost 600,000 Hungarians in the Holocaust. And we are not saying we lost 600,000 Jews. We say we lost 600,000 Hungarians. And a former president of Hungary, when he visited Auschwitz, Birkenau, he called it the largest Hungarian cemetery in the world, and this is how we look. Have to look at that. And yes, there was Nazi occupation in Hungary, and the Nazis wanted to terminate the Hungarian Jewish community. And there were Hungarians at the time, individuals, and also that time, Hungarian state that collaborated with the Nazis. That the way how we look at that today is that those Hungarians who collaborated with the Nazis in the 90s, they did not only commit genocides, but they also committed high treason. They were traitors. They betrayed their own country because they had their own camp to be terminated, to be sent to the desk, and now, after that, for 50 years, there was radio silence because another dictatorship, another totalitarian regime, communist regime, ruled Hungary for 50 years, so we had the chance to be again free and independent to decide on our fate, only after the changes in Europe at the end of the 1990s but for the last 35 years, We Hungarians. We have been enjoying freedom and sovereignty, and we very much appreciate those politicians in the world who are speaking in favor, in favor of identity, culture, nation, sovereignty. And if a country cannot defend her own borders, then this is not a sovereign country. And it's no wonder that the Prime Minister of Hungary is on a very good friendship, both with the Prime Minister of Israel and also the recently re elected American president.
Daniel Lapin 24:26
Yeah. So is kosher slaughtering permitted, or, at the moment, not permitted in Hungary,
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 24:33
it's absolutely permitted, and there are which can do that and and by the way, of course, I mean, we are trying to encourage Jewish life.
Daniel Lapin 24:40
And look, Ambassador, I'm just making sure that when I come I'm going to be able to get a coca hamburger. That's that's all I'm checking into. Okay,
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 24:47
get it in Budapest. And I can give you some recommendations of some very good cultural response in Budapest as well. And I think this is one of the, one of the highlights. And by the way, if you are a tourist, and if you visit Budapest, and this is, you know, a country of 1100 years. So we have a lot of cultural heritage in architecture, in high culture, in classical music, in fine arts, but also the Jewish Quarter in Budapest is a very famous tourist destination, even if you're not Jewish. The largest synagogue in Central Europe is in Budapest, and we have beautifully renovated synagogues. And of course, there are many, many Jewish families all over the world in Hungarian route. Here in the United States, in California, in Florida, in New Jersey, in New York. Many, many people with a Hungarian background. Also in Israel, there are about 200,000 Israelis with a Hungarian family background. And of course, many of them have a very dark memories about Hungary the Holocaust, but things have completely changed now, and I'm really, again, very proud to say that Hungary is now not only a safe haven, but also a place to be if you're a Jewish person, and the Jewish Hungarians are good Hungarians. They love their country, they love their identity and and they can freely live their religion, and we just have to encourage them and the future back
Daniel Lapin 26:03
to demographics for just a moment. Years ago, noticing the population decline, Angela Merkel of Germany decided that a really good way of solving the problem of how do you keep the factories of BMW and Mercedes open with declining population, and she thought, why don't we bring in a few million young men from the Middle East and North Africa? And it's not hard for anybody who visits Germany to see how that's been working out for them. One of the most interesting things to me is during the height of the immigration period Syria, North Africa, Hungary, its borders into and I I do not understand how you managed to do that. I know that it brought the hatred of the left leaning West, down on your heads. But if you are part of the gang in agreement, and you're part of the European Economic Union, and they decree that you have to open your borders to quote refugees, how did Hungary avoid the situation? Because from what I understand now the kind of unpleasant rioting and street protests that are being perpetrated by out of control Muslim youth in many of the cities of Europe. This does not happen in Hungary at all. Explain to me
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 27:35
what's going on, Rabbi, I mean, you touched upon a very hot spot, and I think the root of many of our problems currently. Now, let me answer your question in different ways, and maybe starting what you just refer to at the end. This is extremely threatening. This is extremely concerning. What is happening in many Western European great cities with a great history just recently, what happened in Amsterdam when Jewish youngsters, football or soccer fans were being chased in the streets. I think the Prime Minister of Israel compared it to the Kristallnacht in Germany during the Shoah. I mean, this is unacceptable, and it's also unacceptable what is happening in many parts of the Western England, in the US, what is happening at your universities is blatant anti semitism now on on immigration, and certainly this is not my job to defend Angela Merkel. But first of all, we have to say that Hungary is interested in a stable and strong and economically and socially developing Germany. The Germans had a very difficult and very hard legacy on their shoulder after what happened during the Second World War? Yeah, they had to come back from there. And of course, there is still this blame on Germany, and the Germans had to live their life since the end of the Second World War trying to compensate. And I don't need to analyze now, and we don't need to analyze. We don't have time to analyze. Why Merkel said what she said? But of course, from a German Chancellor turning a blind eye to refugees would have been a mistake. But the problem is that they were not refugees, and Angela Merkel was naive, in a sense, and when she said that everybody is welcome and all Syrians are welcome, that everybody threw away their passports and they said, I'm period, I just can come to Germany, this was a huge mistake, because neither the society nor the German economy was prepared to absorb these people, especially because many of them, I'm not saying all of them. There are many decent people, probably, regardless whether they come legally or illegally, they would like to have a better life, and they don't. They don't have bad intentions. But there is a huge number of people who do have bad intentions. Sometimes they are radical terrorists, and they are going to all these European countries with one intention to destroy and to kill. We have a history of terrorism. 2015 you remember the Bataclan in Paris. You remember what happened in some Christmas markets in Germany or in Copenhagen against nice in France? So there's a problem in. Europe with that, and I think now they need to. Now there has been an enormous political pressure on Hungary since 2015 since the, you know, the accentuation of this immigration crisis, to open up our borders. Now, first of all, you are right. We are a member of the Schengen area, and we are a border country. And being a member of the Schengen area also in pays, in place very strong legal obligations to defend the border, and we defend the border, and we don't let anyone illegally there was, of course, an exception. 30 years ago, we were not member of the EU then, when there was the civil war in Yugoslavia, our imminent neighbor, and now there is a huge war in Ukraine for the last two and a half years, I can tell you that Hungary, Hungary as a nation, as a state, as a country, we opened up our borders to refugees because if they are coming from Ukraine, or they are coming from or they were coming from Yugoslavia, three years ago, they were obviously refugees, mostly women and children and elderly. Let me tell you. Rabbi also that for the last two and a half years, more than 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees have come to Hungary. We are a country of 10 million. So it doesn't mean, I mean, some people say that we are pro Russian and pro Putin and all that we are not. We would like to see an end of to this conflict, but that's a different negotiation.
Daniel Lapin 31:18
You put your finger on one thing very important when you said that the women and children, you know, there was an early colony in America called the Roanoke colony in Virginia, which vanneck That failed, whereas the colony in New England prospered and became the United States of America. And one of the recent belief, or the failure of the Roanoke was only and one of the huge mistakes, in my opinion, that Germany made, and for that matter, so did Sweden and Norway, is they admitted huge numbers of young males. There were no women, there were no families, there were no children. And that's not a refugee condition and and that is a recipe for disaster. Single men are what George Gilder called Social dynamite.
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 32:08
Yes, you know, we have been punished politically for that. For the last 10 years, we have been being criticized on that. And now even the European Union is withholding European funds that Hungary should get because we don't want to join this immigration deal. As a matter of fact, when we joined the European Union, there was neither a legal nor a political obligation to open up our borders without vetting people, without looking who they are coming and this is a mistaken policy of the European Union, and now everybody is paying a price. And is there is no wonder that more and more conservative right wing political parties and politician political stakeholders are getting stronger and stronger in more and more European countries. I can see it will come and there will be a change. But we need a complete policy change in the European Union, just as much as there was a complete policy change in in America two weeks ago, or 10 days ago, when the majority of the Americans, with an overwhelming dominance produced the greatest political comeback in American history. And I think one of the reasons was, of course, this mistaken policy on the borders. Although this is not my job to evaluate what is happening in America. I'm an employee. I'm just watching, you know, I don't evaluate, although, of course, we we have made it clear very, very obviously, who are our political allies in the United
Daniel Lapin 33:29
States, the hatred in the left liberal establishment, the people who hated Brexit in England and the similar crowd in France and ultra in Europe and in the United States, the people who hated Donald Trump are exactly the same people who do not like Prime Minister Orban. Yeah, the same reasons.
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 33:53
Absolutely, that's the reason why they don't like him, because he has emerged as a strong political leader, not only as a Prime Minister of Hungary, but one of the leaders of the European conservative they have just formed the political party over the weekend in Paris, the patriots of Europe. We have members from France, from Italy, from Hungary, from a variety of countries in Europe, and they are now the third largest group in the European Parliament. And hopefully these people are speaking for patriotism and the International globalists and left have always said that no the Conservatives cannot cooperate internationally because they are conservatives, and they are only dealing with their own country. As a matter of fact, the challenges are very similar, not only illegal immigration and the lack of Border Protection, but also this radical, what we call the Vogue policy that they wanted to penetrate into the mindset of our children in schools, in education, completely misinterpreted genderism. You know, in Hungary, everybody respects women. Everybody respects that there is a difference between gender. But in Hungary, we identify two biological genders, the male and the female, and it's in the Hungarian car. Institution that in a family, the father is a man and the mother is a woman. It doesn't mean that we are anti LGBT. I mean, there are LGBT people as well in Hungary and in the Hungarian laws and regulations, there is every guarantee to secure that nobody can attack anyone in Hungary who belongs to a a minority, sexual minority, ethnic minority, religious minority. So we defend them. We defend this lifestyle. But the difference between us and the radical left is that they were promoting this lifestyle, and if we were not promoting then they immediately called us undemocratic. The problem is that in the otherwise wonderful story of the European Union, because the story of the European Union is a wonderful 20th century story. It's it's a success story of the 20th century. But what has become now of the European Union is too bad. It's very indicative that the British decided to leave. I was dealing with Brexit before I came to the United States, and yet, in what happened in the UK. But the problem is that in Europe, what I experienced that, if we don't agree with the mainstream liberal radical left, then they immediately call you undemocratic and everything else you know and this and that
Daniel Lapin 36:11
during the Obama administration in America, From 2008 to 2012 and then during the Biden administration, from 2020 20 to 2024 part of American foreign policy has been the promotion of the LGBTQ agenda, to the point of forcing American embassies around the world to celebrate the lifestyles and these activities. The Africans resented it very strongly. They were. They made no secret of it. Throughout Europe, it's also been promoted. Has Hungary felt any of the pressure from international organizations such as the EU and the United States? Has Have you felt the pressure from outside to somehow buy into a specific anti traditional family agenda?
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 37:10
Absolutely, absolutely, and this is a very disappointing story. We have felt this pressure big time, in fact, when the Hungarian parliament decided to adopt a law that protects children at school, minors against any propaganda of different civil society and NGOs without any legitimacy. And we say that until the age of 18, when the children are adults, nobody should be allowed into school, except, of course, for the teachers and for the educators, and they immediately called it an anti LGBT law. They call it a children protection law. They immediately associated it with that. It's not against the LGBT community. It's against common sense. It's against traditions. The schools should be places where children are being taught about all the subject that they would need in their in their future, in their life, including their history, their mother tongue, sciences and arts and everything and when they are that they can decide how they live their life. And this is not against anybody. This is for the protection of the children, but just because, if the of this law all kinds of globalist international organizations and and, of course, the European institutions and political stakeholders, the left in Europe, the left in America, attacked Hungary big time and politically, so we had to certainly just hold against this pressure. But you know, we have been around for 1100 years, and we would like to be around for another 1100 years at least. So we need to be very consistent and very straightforward to defend our interests, but We Hungarians, we don't want trouble with anyone. We are respectful wherever we can. We just want to have the similar respect from other countries whenever we decided our fate on our own future. And this is part of that story
Daniel Lapin 38:58
when communism took over Hungary in what?
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 39:01
1945 Yes, it happened in 1945 and then 1947
Daniel Lapin 39:06
and then, and then in 1989 it ended. That's right. How do you think it is, or why do you think it is that Hungary seemed to recover so quickly from nearly 50 Years of communist oppression. It's almost, I'm not going to put words in your mouth, but from the outside, it's almost as if there was an inner Hungarian spirit that was waiting to birth out of that oppressive stone.
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 39:34
Yes, I think if I want to identify ourselves, we are very unique. Of course, we are a nation that identity is somewhat obscure. We are coming from Asia. The early Hungarians, ninth century, is that the Magyars, that's right, that's right. They were tribes in Central Asia, and that's why we feel some historic brotherhood, some historic relations, family relations, with many Asian nations, including in Central Asia and beyond. Even as far as the way as Korea or Japan, and we have a very respectful policy at the government level towards them. But Hungarians, when they settle, they converted into Christianity, and they started to develop. And the backbone of our identity is our language. We are Hungarian because we speak Hungarian, not ethnically. It's a very diverse society and a very strong and rich society genetically, and there's always been a will to survive. As we say, we speak a language that nobody understands. It's not even a language. It's a secret code of communication. Only Hungarians understand Hungarians, and this is something that unite us, and we had to fight, you know, invaders, the Mongolian Tatars in the 13th century, the Ottoman Turks in the when was it? It was a 16th, 17th century, 150 years. And then we had the communism. We had Nazism, we had a lot of things that we had to fight. But the the the Hungarians, whose early ancestors occupied the territory where we are still there. And 50 Years of communism is just a short period of time in this historical perspective and in at family level, at individual level, we tried to keep our traditions, including religion, of course, the language and the community. So that's why we were happy when we could shrug off communism. And Hungarians did a lot in 1956 just 10 years after the end of the Second World War, young Hungarians revolted against the mightiest military force, the Soviet Red Army, and they were crushed. But as we look at that, 1956 and the revolution was the first nail in the coffin of communism was followed by 1968 in Prague, 1981 in Poland, and eventually, when the Hungarians opened up their borders to the East Germans, and they contributed big time to the unification, the reunification of Germany, this was the end of communism, and this is a legacy. This is part of our identity. And I think we have enjoyed freedom and independence 35 years, but now we see a lot of challenges, and this forced vocalism andalism, this radical liberalism that was coming from the west, was a huge menace to us, and that's why we are very happy that in America things might change in whatever is happening in America has an immediate impact, not only on the allies in Europe, but all over the world, and that's why we very much look forward to working with America in the years to come, and I'm quite sure that we can make our countries great again. I look forward
Daniel Lapin 42:29
to a close relationship between President Trump and Prime Minister Orban. I really, I really do. I think it would be wonderful. So if one people encouraging people to go to Hungary, because I've been researching it for a little while. It's not just Budapest in the surrounding countryside. There are a lot of attractions. There are other things to see. I myself, I'm into buildings. I definitely want to visit Lake Balaton. It's a huge fresh water lake. This
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 42:58
is a large fresh water lake in Central Europe and and, yeah, thank you very much. Rabbi, so nicely, promoting my country as an ambassador, as an envoy. Of course, I'm also promoting tourism. But really, as I said, this is a country of 1100 years, and there is a very unique architectural beauty, a lot of high culture, including music, fine arts. Budapest as a capital, is a very significant city in Europe, and there's a variety of tourist attractions, but if you visit the countryside, rural Hungary is also very attractive. People are hospitable. The food is great. We have wine making traditions. So you can really enjoy some good days and some good weeks in Hungary. So not only yourself, I encourage the audience that they should make a decision and come to Hungary. And whenever they are in Hungary, they can also visit other countries in the region. Of course, if you take this huge step and you visit it from America, then you would like to see as much as you can, but you can indulge in Hungary for weeks, and then you will not be disappointed.
Daniel Lapin 43:59
Imagine, if you choose the right time. There's probably a France lit musical festival perhaps, yeah,
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 44:06
that's one of the choices. Although there are day in and day out classic musical events. In Budapest, we have a wonderful opera house where you can enjoy opera, but also for younger generations, all kinds of attractions in Hungary, and I strongly encourage people who have visited, usually they come back with a very good memory. And this is what I keep hearing.
Daniel Lapin 44:25
And I also have a very romantic imagination of the Danube River. Yeah, I'm guessing the waterfront, the riverfront, is beautiful and just a nice place to be at. Absolutely, I can only confirm I look forward, gosh, well, I really appreciate the time you spent with me. Ambassador, I really do. I have been an enthusiastic I looked at Hungary as the place that's been able to resist the pressure that has come from the left wing. Woke establishment, whether it's been in Europe, Great Britain, most disturbingly, from the United States itself, definitely the impression I have is a country that knows its identity and is proud of its identity and is not ready to surrender it, not to anybody, and that fierce independence, which probably comes from your Magyar ancestors, is very, to me, very admirable. I love seeing it. And I take great inspiration and courage from how your country has, with good some of these very, very high pressure indoctrinations. And I will just say that although the the gentleman in the United States known as George Soros, although he claims to be a Jew, I couldn't be less proud of him as a Jew, I'd say that his value system owes the zero to Judaism and everything to socialism, which I think is be a part of who he really is. I mention him only because he's been a vicious and unrelenting enemy of your Prime Minister and of everything your country has tried to do. I'm sad about it. I wish it weren't so, but I feel obliged to mention George Soros. He's done even more damage in the United States of America, which is now being turned back, people are rejecting the district attorneys and the prosecutors that he put into position in places like San Francisco, California, Pennsylvania, Illinois, New York and other places. So we're seeing hope on the horizon that he's done a lot of damage. He's of Hungarian background, and he seems to be particularly fixated on trying to undermine everything of value and permanence in Hungary so I'm sorry about that, but I don't think I could do the show without making mention of him. So I will do that.
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 47:03
I think we have to talk about that as well. And certainly this is very sad that what has been happening with him, but some reflections on Mr. Soros, and I can certainly confirm that he has been one of the greatest and most ardent political enemy of the Hungarian Prime Minister and the Hungarian government, and very cynically, himself and the whole international left and liberals have been using card of anti semitism when the whole issue came into the picture. And they, they claim that the Prime Minister of Hungary and Hungarian government in fact, and the majority of the Hungarians are anti semitic because they they have a debate with George Soros. Now I have very good bad news for them. First of all, we don't list who is Jewish and who is not. I mean, it will be very bad. We know what happens when you start listing and what is the next step. Why would you list? I mean, Jewish people, as I told you, can live their identity very freely and very open in Hungary, but we as a government, why would why would we list someone that he's Jewish or he's not Jewish, so we have nothing to do Mr. Soros, coming from a Jewish family, we don't have any problem with him because of that. On the contrary, I must tell you, I, myself and several members of the Hungarian, Hungarian government, were ready to defend Mr. Shores, and I will be the first one to defend Mr. Soros. If somebody attacks him because he claims he's coming from a Jewish family, you cannot attack someone because he's coming from a Jewish family. So it's absolutely nonsense and absurd. So the card that he's using against us is just, you know, this whole antiSemitism, antiSemitism card, we have a problem with him, because we he without any legitimacy in Hungary. He has never been elected by anyone. He's using illegal financial techniques to undermine the legitimately, legitimately elected Hungarian government, and he's going against the will of the majority of the Hungarians. So he's getting involved through illegal techniques, politically and financially. This is the problem that we have with him. When I talk to a prominent American Jewish leader, I wouldn't name him because I don't have the his consent on that, but he's a prominent Jewish leader from an organization. He told me he's also coming from a Hungarian family, by the way, he said that Mr. Solos is zero Jewish because he's anti Israel, and he has nothing to do with Judaism. As you said, he's rather a representative of the radical international liberals and globalists. It has nothing to do whether he is Jewish, Christian or anything else. I think this is an argument that he is using all the time. But I think it's absurd, that it's nonsense. I mean, it is Jewish or not, we have problem with his politics and his approach, and I think that's a problem not only in Hungary, but also in the US. As you said, he has made a lot of calamity here too,
Daniel Lapin 49:54
when they rip religion out of Judaism by saying that the the Bible is i. Of no significance, they are left equating Judaism with international liberalism. And therefore, if you are hostile to international liberalism, as I am, then that makes you, by definition, an anti Semite, because if Judaism equals liberalism, then anti liberalism must mean anti Judaism. And that is exactly the technique reviewed against many Hungarians and parts of the Hungarian government. Anyways, enough of him, and back to happy topics of Hungary a beautiful country plate to visit and and I've enjoyed very much the opportunity to chat with you about this, and I hope we'll have further opportunities to do exactly the same. I appreciate your service to Hungary and your presence in the United States and and very much support the things that you're trying to do. So if I, if I can ever be of any help, don't hesitate. And thank you again. I really appreciate this ambassador. Regards and appreciation to your wife for helping to arrange our meeting, and I wish you success and good health in the year ahead.
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 51:11
Thank you very much, Rabbi And I similarly, I very much appreciate your interest. You reaching out. I wish you well, and I hope to continue this conversation. And my best regards to your audience and those people who were interested in this discussion. God bless you and wish you
Daniel Lapin 51:25
well. Thank you very much. Goodbye. Okay, there we go. All right, if we can just give it a moment or two to finish doing his little upload, we'll be in in good shape. I hope there was nothing uncomfortable there,
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 51:42
not at all. On the contrary, I think we can talk about all these things freely, and we should, and certainly, well for us Hungarians, nothing is uncomfortable because we are quite straightforward people. It doesn't mean that we don't show respect and we show disrespect. But you know, sometimes we are straight to the point. And of course, there are different techniques in diplomacy when we do things this or that way. But in this is part of our story, that we try to be very sincere, even in international relations, and trying to be very open. And we need friends. And in order to make friends, you have to be sincere. You have to be open for discussing any topics, even the topic is sensitive or not. That's my experience, that the most sensitive topics need the most sincere approach, and then probably you can iron out misunderstandings. If there are
Daniel Lapin 52:29
Ambassador taka, I wanted to ask you, I didn't want to ask on the air, because I'm too ignorant on it, but is there a university that Soros is funding or generate or trying to make happen.
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 52:42
There used to be one university. Is called the Central European University. He established that in Budapest, it was during left wing government in Hungary. As a matter of fact, the story is that he approached a couple of European countries. He wanted to go to Prague first, and he wanted to go to Germany, to Bavaria in Munich. But both the Czechs and the Germans told him that, as a matter of fact, you cannot establish a university in my country for one reason, because, according to the higher education law in the Czechia and in Bavaria, you must have a mother university in the United States of America in order to open a branch and issue degrees on behalf but the Central European University had never had any roots in the United States of America, only a PO box. It was registered, but only a post office box. But in Hungary, when they went to Budapest, there was a left wing socialist government, and despite the fact that the Hungarian higher education law does not allow the establishment of a university without a US institution. They did allow against the Hungarian law, and when the Conservatives Victor Orban came back, they told them that you cannot operate your university anymore. And again, there has been a huge political scandal. All the liberals, all the left in Brussels in Europe, in America, knew about that, and they said that, look, Hungary is an authoritarian regime. They are against the freedom of education, which is not the case. It is including, including foreign universities, including American universities. But everybody has to, you know, respect the law. There is no exception.
Daniel Lapin 54:20
I'm delighted to hear it so that university is no longer operating.
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 54:24
No, it's not. They moved their branch to Vienna, but this is, well, I mean, shonos used this as a platform again, to launch political attacks against the legitimately elected Hungarian government, and that's why, of course, this is one of his techniques.
Daniel Lapin 54:39
Oh, absolutely. Oh, I'm very pleased to hear that.
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 54:43
Yeah, well, that's the story about great. Well,
Daniel Lapin 54:46
thank you so much. It's really, it's been a pleasure talking to you. CPAC will take place again in February. Yes, and that hopefully we will meet again. I was hoping, I was hoping that that will. Be possible? Yes, I will be at the Jewish branch over the road, and it'll be a very celebratory feedback this year.
Ambassador Szabolcs Takács 55:09
Yes, I look forward to that. Yeah, me too. Very much. I really, I saw a couple of additions and discussions over the weekend, and I think it's remarkable and it's very enjoyable. Thank you so much. I wish you and your family all the best and likewise, Blessings to you all. Thank you very much. Thank you, Rabbi, all the best. Bye, bye.
