Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó reiterated a claim that Jewish billionaire George Soros and the European Union are encouraging and organizing migrants to enter Serbia and Hungary on Monday, saying that migrants were attacking police and "acting aggressively" in Serbia, according to Hungarian media.
Szijjártó complained that migrants were "increasingly aggressive and violent," adding that pressure from migration was growing amid the war in Ukraine. "We must make clear that this is not a human rights issue," he said.
The foreign minister warned that the food supply crisis impacting the world would likely exacerbate the pressure from migrants, adding "I believe we are in the last hour that Brussels (an apparent reference to the EU) and NGOs linked to George Soros should stop encouraging migrants and organizing migration."
"We are asking Brussels and NGOs linked to Soros not to encourage the migrants, not to abet them to commit crimes and to violate the sovereignty of countries, such as Serbia and Hungary," added Szijjártó, according to Hungarian media.
Hungary's conflict against Soros
Hungarian officials, including the country's prime minister, have often blamed Soros for attempts by migrants to enter the country, as well as a slew of other issues in the country, using antisemitic tropes in reference to the Jewish billionaire.
In 2018, the country's government passed a law dubbed the "Stop Soros" law, which outlawed helping illegal immigrants claim asylum and apply for residence.
An anti-migrant billboard campaign by the Hungarian government in 2017 showed a photo of Soros next to the words "Don’t let Soros have the last laugh."
In April, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban stated that he had prevailed against “the left at home, the international left all around, the Brussels bureaucrats, the Soros empire with all its money, the international mainstream media, and in the end, even the Ukrainian president,” in a victory speech after winning a fourth term.
In an article on the prime minister's website from 2020, Orban said that Soros was backing a "network of NGOs disseminating liberal, post-national and post-Christian ideas." The prime minister continued saying Soros was attempting to "take power" and funding "thousands of NGOs, research institutes, analytical workshops and activists who influence the direction of mainstream media."
In June, Orban claimed Soros was one of a number of businessmen trying to prolong the war between Russia and Ukraine in order to make money off the conflict.
Szijjarto told The Jerusalem Post in 2019 that the Hungarian government has a problem with Soros's ideas, not his religion. “Yes, we are in open conflict [with Soros], but it has nothing to do with the religion of any of us, it has to do with that vision. And whoever includes religion in this debate is representing an antisemitic approach, because we don’t care about his religion,” he said.