Pro-Palestinian activists target Budapest Cholent Festival: ‘Ugly provocation’

A planned pro-Palestinian demonstration was rerouted away from one of Hungary’s largest Jewish cultural events after Jewish community leaders warned that holding the protest at the festival entrance risked turning a political demonstration into a confrontation with local Jews.

The festival is held as part of Synagogue Week, organized by EMIH, the Association of Hungarian Jewish Communities. The initiative is intended both to strengthen connections between Hungarian Jews and Jewish tradition and to expose the wider Hungarian public to Jewish culture as part of efforts to combat antisemitism.

This year, however, Hungarian rapper Gergely Komáromi, known as G Ras, announced plans for a demonstration at the entrance to the festival under the slogan “Together for Justice, From Palestine to Budapest.”

The choice of location sparked anger among Hungarian Jewish leaders, who said their concern was not the existence of a political protest but the decision to stage it at the entrance to a major Jewish gathering.

“This is a dangerous, malicious and ugly provocation intended to hurt the feelings of the Jewish community while Hungarian Jews are gathering to celebrate together,” Jewish community officials said.

Concern increased after the same anti-Israel group held a demonstration in Budapest the previous week calling for the release of Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.

Demonstrators portrayed Abu Safiya as a medical professional who had been unjustly detained. Israel’s ambassador to Hungary, Maya Kadosh, said he had ties to Hamas and that the hospital had been used for terrorist activity.

The protest also drew criticism from Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony, who publicly opposed both the demonstration and the presentation of Abu Safiya as a figure deserving public solidarity. Organizers accused the mayor of adopting what they called the “Israeli narrative” and said Israeli officials were spreading “false propaganda.”

Hungary’s chief rabbi, Shlomo Köves, said an anti-Israel protest deliberately brought into the physical space of a local Jewish event crossed a dangerous line.

“When an anti-Israel protest deliberately enters the physical space of a local Jewish event, a dangerous red line is crossed,” Köves said.

He said the decision to hold the demonstration at the same place and time as one of Budapest’s largest public Jewish events raised fears that a political protest could turn into a confrontation with local Jews.

Following the public backlash, Hungarian authorities changed the demonstration route, preventing it from passing the entrance to the festival. EMIH welcomed the decision and said authorities had recognized the event’s particular sensitivity.

“The answer to these events is not to hide Jewish life or retreat from the public sphere, but exactly the opposite,” Köves said. “The Jewish community in Hungary is an inseparable part of the fabric of life in this country.”

He said Jews had the right to practice their religion, culture and communal life openly, safely and proudly without becoming targets of antisemitic or anti-Israel protests.

“Jewish culture belongs in Budapest’s public space,” he said, adding that the community would not give up its right to live openly as Jews.

The Cholent Festival also marked the opening of Synagogue Week, which will include events at synagogues across Budapest’s historic Jewish quarter during the period of Selichot prayers ahead of the High Holy Days.

Two new synagogues are also due to open in the Hungarian capital, including one designed entirely for young people and run largely by them.

EMIH said the synagogue’s gabbai, community president and other officeholders will all be under 18, with the goal of allowing young Jews to shape communal life themselves rather than having it managed by older generations.

The synagogue is affiliated with the international Jewish youth movement CTeen. Its rabbi, Tzemi Bassman, in his 30s, will be the only adult in the leadership structure.

“As far as we know, this is the first pilot of its kind in the world,” Bassman said. “I am sure that after Hungary it will inspire many communities around the world and in Israel as well.”