Protecting Hungary from George Soros’s open borders agenda will preserve the nation as a safe haven for its Jewish community, Viktor Orbán has told the World Jewish Congress (WJC), highlighting the rise of anti-Semitism in Western Europe.

Responding to a letter from WJC chairman Ronald S. Lauder which criticised his government’s crackdown on foreign NGOs promoting mass migration, the Hungarian prime minister said the Open Society Foundations (OSF) organisation and its globalist, billionaire founder “bear responsibility for the increase in anti-Semitism in Europe”.

The work of Soros and his foundation in funding NGOs which have populated Europe with millions of third world migrants in recent years has resulted in the introduction of large numbers of people whose “political and religious views markedly increased the sense of insecurity in Jewish communities”, said the Hungarian leader, in comments reported by MTI on Friday.

Hungary: Smearing Legitimate Criticism of George Soros as Anti-Semitism Is ‘Cynical and Dishonest’ https://t.co/qTTkCuwjcT — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 15, 2017

“Our policy has moral and theoretical reasons and serves the idea of coexistence between Jews and Christians, in which we continue to believe with conviction,” Orbán said.

Opponents of the crackdown on illegal immigration and foreign NGOs, and of the prime minister’s pledges to protect Hungary from globalist efforts to erase tradition and Christianity from Europe, have smeared the government as “anti-Semitic” for speaking out against Soros and his foundation.

However, this claim was repudiated when Israel’s foreign ministry released a statement on the accusations which was supportive towards Hungary’s stance, stressing it was important not to “de-legitimise criticism of George Soros, who continuously undermines Israel’s democratically elected governments by funding organisations that defame the Jewish state and seek to deny it the right to defend itself.”

Jewish communities across Western Europe have reported rising levels of anti-Semitism in recent years, with reports that observant Jews in some cities and towns have been advised not to wear religious garments in public or else risk being attacked by “Muslim youths”.

French Jews Flee Paris Suburbs Over Rising Anti-Semitism https://t.co/Ncf7Car0xv pic.twitter.com/j6fzE7hAwu — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) May 31, 2016

Thousands of Jews have left France for Israel in the past decade, including 5,000 reported in 2017, as a result of increasing numbers of anti-Semitic attacks and open hostility towards the community as the demographics of cities like Paris are transformed.

In Germany meanwhile, the government was urged to appoint an “anti-Semitism official” by Jewish community leader Charlotte Knobloch, who warned that “aggressive anti-Semitism [ranging] from verbal hostility … to physical attacks” has become commonplace in the country.

In a survey of Jews in Germany reported last year, respondents questioned about anti-Semitic attacks against them put “Muslim persons or groups” as the top perpetrators, ahead of other possible answers such as “unknown” or far-right or left groups.