The world press has covered the Israel–Hamas ceasefire deal in great detail, but little has been written about the three brave Israeli women who were the first to be released as part of the deal. Out article tells their story, also reminding that a Hungarian Israeli is still held by Hamas.

The first guest of the new edition of the Danube Info podcast was Or Yissachar, a national security researcher and team lead in the Israeli high-tech industry, leading the Israel Defence and Security Forum’s Content Division and Research Department.

Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights, commemorates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem in the second century after it was liberated. This year’s Hanukkah will start on 25 December and end on 2 January 2025.

In a recent analysis former Hungarian ambassador to Israel Levente Benkő highlights that for Israel, Hamas’s brutal attack necessitated a forceful response in order to restore deterrence. He points out that Israel has no choice but to confront its enemies decisively, even with or without the help of the US, starting with Hamas in Gaza. By doing so, while not eliminating resistance to Israel as such, at least prevents it from taking the form of an organized insurgency. 

On 28 October, despite international opposition, Israeli lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to approve two bills that essentially ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East from operating in Israel and severely restrict its activities in Gaza and the West Bank, due to certain staff members’ direct ties to Hamas and other terrorist groups.

According to the OIDAC’s 2022/2023 report, there was a 44 per cent increase in crimes against Christians in those two years. In 2022, OIDAC documented as many as 749 anti-Christian hate crimes. The report points out that there is a reasonable probability that the actual numbers are higher, due to limited reporting as a result of the crimes’ chilling effect on victims, and the lack of media coverage. OIDAC found that Christian converts of Muslim origin are particularly vulnerable to violence.

The 18 September resolution doesn’t mention Hamas’ brutal incursion into Israel on 7 October or the 101 hostages that are still being held captive in Gaza. It also conspicuously avoids mention of the continuing Palestinian attacks on Israel. Hungary was one of the fourteen nations that voted against the resolution that holds Israel solely responsible for the conflict.

The pro-Israel experts and politicians who gathered at the Israel Defence and Security Forum (IDSF) and the Danube Institute’s conference titled October Effect: Strategic Implications for Israel and Europe in the Middle East War, held on 9 September at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem, discussed and analysed the rise of antisemitism in the West, the ramifications of Israel’s war in Gaza, and the emerging Russia –China–Iran axis.

The Hungarian government and Jewish communities, along with thousands of ordinary Hungarians, have shown full support of and solidarity with the State of Israel and the Jewish people in a number of ways since 7 October. We have listed the most important ones on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of Hungary–Israel relations.

In a podcast conversation with his daughter, Mikhaila Peterson, Dr Peterson reacted to the court’s dismissal by stating: ‘I’ll be sitting down with an expert, whatever that means, and they’re going to do whatever it is they think they can do to make me into an entirely different sort of creature than I am. And so I’m sort of morbidly curious about that. Yeah, Jordan Peterson’s reeducation is coming to the airwaves soon.’