Hungary will move its embassy in the Zionist entity to occupied Al-Quds (Jerusalem) next month, the country’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced.
Israeli media reported the announcement, boasting about Orabn’s “apparent gesture” to Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu.
The two reached an agreement on the matter in recent days, with the details hashed out during intensive talks between Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and Hungary’s top diplomat Peter Szijjarto, senior Foreign Ministry officials told Zman Yisrael, the Times of Israel’s Hebrew language sister site, on Friday.
The move will make Hungary the first European Union member state to open an embassy in occupied Al-Quds, a move which the bloc opposes.
Senior Foreign Ministry sources who confirmed the planned embassy transfer linked the move to Orban’s desire to help out Netanyahu, granting the premier a diplomatic achievement amid political instability over his government’s contentious plans to overhaul Israel’s judicial system.
Netanyahu has long had close relations with Orban, who has been in power since 2010. Their bond has further tightened since Netanyahu’s return to power after the general election in November.
During a visit to the Zionist entity in 2019, Orban promised to establish a trade office with “diplomatic status” in occupied Al-Quds, which opened several months later.
Source: Israeli media
