Why Viktor Orban Will Get a Warm Welcome in Jerusalem
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will reward Central Europe’s leaders for their loyalty and send a message to western countries too.
He’ll get the red carpet in Jerusalem.
Photographer: Bloomberg/BloombergLater this month, Israel will be hosting a meeting of the Visegrad nations. Many Europeans will wonder how Israel could make common cause with the nationalist “illiberal democracies,” represented by the leaders of Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, much less fete them in Jerusalem. Actually, it’s not so hard to understand.
Israel itself is a nationalist democracy. Zionism, the doctrine professed by all major Israeli parties, is in its essence Jewish nationalism. Given Israel’s precarious history, it is also a highly pragmatic country. Founding Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion recognized Germany only a few years after the Holocaust. Germany, badly in need of moral rehabilitation, was offering aid. Israel took it.