Hungary: Far-right lawmaker urged to resign for anti-Semitism

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — A far-right Hungarian lawmaker is being urged to resign after he made a speech in Parliament that was deemed anti-Semitic by opposition parties.

Zsolt Barath of the far-right Jobbik party on Tuesday commemorated a 1882 disappearance that stoked anti-Semitic feelings in Hungary.

Eszter Solymosi, a peasant girl from the eastern Hungarian village of Tiszaeszlar, disappeared in April of that year, with several Jews accused of her murder — only to be acquitted in 1884.

Barath’s speech was immediately condemned in the legislature by Janos Fonagy of the governing Fidesz party, who said “mentioning the blood libel case of Tiszaeszlar tears open centuries-old wounds.”

Two opposition parties on Wednesday urged Barath to resign. A rabbi said he should face a parliamentary ethics committee.