Hungary foils 'anti-Jewish plot'

BBC ^ | 13 April 2004 | staff

[fdsa2]

Hungarian police say a detained Palestinian has told them he planned to bomb the Holocaust Museum in Budapest.

Police denied any link with the current visit to Hungary by the Israeli President, Moshe Katsav.

Mr Katsav arrived in Hungary on Tuesday for a three-day visit, during which he is scheduled to inaugurate the new Holocaust Museum.

Two Syrians were also detained for questioning as police carried out house searches in Budapest.

"There is no connection whatsoever between the Israeli president's visit and the particular police action taken today," said police chief Laszlo Salgo.

Earlier, a senior official in Mr Katsav's office, Moshe Mizrahi, told the Associated Press that the three were arrested "on suspicion that they were trying to kill the president".

However, he said Mr Katsav's visit would continue as planned.

Ceremonial role

Israeli embassy officials in Budapest denied reports that Mr Katsav's schedule for the visit had been changed several times because of security concerns.

The Iranian-born Mr Katsav was elected president in 2000.

He has served in two right-wing governments, but is regarded as a moderate compared to his Likud-party colleague, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Israeli presidents have a largely ceremonial role.

[fdsa2]

Well done Hungary!

[AmishDude]

BTW, I was in Budapest last week. It looks a lot better than it did 5 years ago. But all that graffiti...

[mikhailovich]

Hmmm. A LOT of anti-semetic graffiti in Russia as well. I saw some in November, and yet more in March. A large neo-nazi element seems to be taking root there as well. Saw on Czech TV more evidence of skinheads in that country also. What's going on in Eastern Europe???

[mikhailovich]

semitic

[AmishDude]

I didn't mean to say there was anti-Semitic graffiti. I wouldn't be able to read most of it if there were. (Although "SPQR" was strangely popular.)

There was just a lot of graffiti everywhere. About what? Probably nothing in particular, by and large.

What's going on in Eastern Europe is a resurgence of nationalism after throwing off the yolk of Soviet rule.

[Choose Ye This Day]

Planned to bomb the Holocaust Museum? How can that be?

“I think these words need to be said somewhere on national TV, and they are: there is no terrorist threat. There is no terrorist threat.” –Michael Moore

[Erik Latranyi]

Well done Hungary!

It must make George Soros mad to hear that his former homeland is now engaged in Bush's war on terror!

[Smile-n-Win]

Thanks for the ping!

But all that graffiti...

Yeah, that's pretty irritating. Budapest has too many punks with too much spare time. (It's good to have them all in one clump, though--makes the rest of the country cleaner!)

[AmishDude]

The architecture is amazing and it's nice to see all of the restorations going on to try to make up for the neglect from the Warsaw pact days.

[mikhailovich]

In Russia you're seeing a lot of swastikas(sp) and graffiti popping up. Skinheads, and Aryan groups. I think you're right about the nationalism thing, but there has always been an anti-Semitic presence in Russia, Soviet era or otherwise.