Outrage over call for list of Jews

HUNGARY

A CALL in the Hungarian parliament for Jews to be registered on lists as threats to national security sparked international condemnation of Nazi-style policies and a protest outside the legislature in Budapest yesterday.

The lawmaker, from the farRight Jobbik party, dismissed demands that he resign, however, and said his remarks during a debate on Tuesday had been misunderstood – he was, Marton Gyongyosi said, referring only to Hungarians with Israeli passports.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside parliament, many wearing the kind of yellow stars forced on Europe’s Jews in the 1940s and some chanting ‘‘Nazis go home’’ at Jobbik members.

‘‘I am a Holocaust survivor,’’ local Jewish leader Gusztav Zoltai said. ‘‘For people like me, this generates raw fear.’’

Though he dismissed the comments by Jobbik’s foreign affairs spokesman as opportunistic politicking, the executive director of the Hungarian Jewish Congregations’ Association added: ‘‘This is the shame of Europe, the shame of the world.’’

The centre-Right government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban issued a statement yesterday condemning the remarks by Gyongyosi, whose party surged into parliament two years ago on a campaign drawing on suspicion of