

Five prime ministers, left to right: Bohuslav Sobotka (Czechia), Benjamin Netanyahu (Israel), Viktor Orbán (Hungary), Robert Fico (Slovakia), Beata Szydło (Poland) — Click to enlarge Five prime ministers, left to right: Bohuslav Sobotka (Czechia), Benjamin Netanyahu (Israel), Viktor Orbán (Hungary), Robert Fico (Slovakia), Beata Szydło (Poland) — Click to enlarge

An historic meeting was held in Budapest today, July 19, 2017. It was the culmination of a two-day state visit to Hungary by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the first such visit by a sitting Israeli prime minister.

The prime ministers for the Visegrad Four group of Central European nations (Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic) were also present. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán currently holds the rotating presidency for that group, and he was authorized to act on behalf of the other three in his discussions and negotiations with the Israeli prime minister. The results may be seen in the two videos below.

This summit represents a sea change in relations between Israel and the European Union. The V4 countries are breaking away from customary the anti-Israel politics as usually practiced by Brussels. The V4 and Israel have interests in common. Unlike their neighbors to the west of the Iron Curtain, they have no intention of allowing mass Muslim immigration to destroy their countries, which is what has happened to Britain, France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and Sweden.

This is a vote of no-confidence in NATO by both Israel and the V4. The Central Europeans have learned the hard lesson that they can trust neither the EU nor NATO (e.g. see Kosovo, 1999). Mr. Orbán is looking for new security arrangements to avoid having to cut a deal with the Russians — which nobody really wants to do, except from a very strong negotiating position. Which is what the V4 will gain from an alliance with Israel: the Russians know that Israel is not a trivial power.

If President Trump is smart (and I think he is), he’ll take this as a heads-up about the coming shift in power relations between Europe and Israel.

Many thanks to CrossWare for translating the Hungarian in the first video, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling and the uploading:

Yesterday’s remarks by Benjamin Netanyahu:

Prime Minister Netanyahu on Twitter:

Following my meeting with the Visegrad Group, I met with Czech PM Bohuslav Sobotka, Polish PM Beata Szydlo & Slovak PM Robert Fico

Video transcript for Viktor Orbán:

0:04 Good day, respected ladies and gentlemen, respected Mrs. Prime Minister [Israeli PM’s wife], 0:08 Prime Ministers! Today something 0:12 happened in Budapest that has never before occurred. 0:16 For the first time ever, we had a meeting 0:20 between the prime minister of Israel and the prime ministers of the V4 [Visegrad Four] countries . 0:24 My task is now to sum up briefly 0:28 the results of the summit. 0:32 Before we met the Prime Minister of Israel 0:36 we had a separate discussion, 0:40 I must say about three short sentences: 0:44 We sent a letter to the prime minister of Italy; this is already published, 0:48 so you can all read it. We agreed 0:52 that of the agencies moving away from London, 0:56 at least one of them should be placed in the V4 countries 1:00 — the new center should be placed into one of the V4 countries — 1:04 so we support each other and work together on this issue. Finally, 1:08 the prime ministers of the V4 recorded a negotiating mandate 1:12 for me, which concerns our negotiations with the French government. 1:16 This will be the basis of the discussions with them, 1:20 and about its mission directive. That is about that. 1:24 After this let me to return to the discussions with the prime minister of the State of Israel, 1:28 their Prime Minister and the V4 prime ministers’ summit, in a nutshell. 1:32 The prime minister — Mr. Netanyahu — 1:36 suggested that we setup a working group 1:40 — a shared work group — to combat terrorism. 1:44 We accepted this. The prime minister had another suggestion, 1:48 to setup another working group 1:52 to facilitate technological cooperation, in the interest of this… 1:56 we will work out the details. Thirdly, the prime minister invited us 2:00 to Israel. We thought it over; we considered it a great honor, 2:04 and accepted it. I would like to remind everyone… 2:08 … 2:12 … of the point of view of the state of Israel: the defense of the external borders of every state 2:16 has key importance for the safety of that nation. 2:20 That is a thought that we V4 countries share. 2:24 We had a long discussion about the importance of the defense of external borders. 2:28 We also had a long discussion about how the free flow of people, 2:32 without any control and checks, increases the risk of terror. 2:36 We talked about the relationship between 2:40 the European Union and Israel, too. 2:44 The Hungarian point of view in this matter was: 2:48 The European Union should value 2:52 those efforts that the State of Israel 2:56 makes for the stability of the region, which 3:00 is not only in Israel’s interests but in Europe’s, too, because it protects us 3:04 from newer and newer waves of migrant invasion. 3:08 We appreciate these efforts and we recommend that the European Union, 3:12 should also appreciate them. Similarly, 3:16 by reviewing the relationship between the EU and Israel, 3:20 we noted that it is not reasonable. 3:24 It requires improvement. We would like relations between the EU and Israel 3:28 to be characterized by rationality and logic. 3:32 And instead of criticizing Israel, they should cooperate with it. 3:36 We should open the doors for that [cooperation] and make opportunities available. 3:40 Hungary will represent such a political direction in 3:44 its dealings within the EU. That, in a nutshell, 3:48 was the essence of the discussions. I represented the Hungarian point of view for you; 3:52 now I pass the word to Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel. 3:56 Here you go…



Video transcript of yesterday’s remarks by Benjamin Netanyahu, as posted on the PM’s Facebook page: