Netanyahu and Orbán: An Illiberal Bromance Spanning From D.C. to Jerusalem
haaretz.com
archive.fo
The parallels between the current prime ministers of Israel and Hungary are astonishing, so it is perhaps unsurprising they have forged a strong alliance over the past decade and learned new tricks from each other. The third and final part of a special report
Anshel Pfeffer | Budapest
Jul 18, 2018 9:05 PM
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“If you want to understand Bibi, look at Orbán. And vice versa,” says one Budapest resident who has spent time with both the Hungarian and Israeli prime ministers. Indeed, the parallels between Benjamin Netanyahu and Orbán are breathtaking. Both men first came to power in the 1990s, as the youngest prime ministers in their countries’ histories. Both lost an election after only one term in office and then spent nearly a decade in opposition. Both subsequently returned to the Prime Minister’s Office and have since won three consecutive elections using xenophobia, a siege mentality and the weakness of their liberal-left rivals to perpetuate and deepen their hold on power.
The similarities don’t end there. Netanyahu and Orbán both lead relatively small nations, each with some 9 million citizens. Yet despite their size, each leader has leveraged his position: Netanyahu into that of a global statesman who has the ear of both Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin; Orbán as the figurehead for other nationalist and populist politicians who are disrupting the policies of the European Union’s Brussels establishment. Netanyahu and Orbán, veterans of three decades of politics, were both harbingers of the Trump era.
‘Political pragmatism’
Hungarians on the right and left find very little common ground these days, but both supporters and opponents of Orbán are in clear agreement that he and Bibi are close. “Orbán and Netanyahu have joint values,” says the Hungarian government’s spokesman, Zoltán Kovács. “They share political pragmatism instead of dogmatic ideology. You can see it’s working. These two nations are facing similar challenges with similar solutions.”
Kovács, who was a historian before he went into politics, has a point. Hungarians and Israelis share similar geopolitical circumstances: Small nations with a unique language and culture, nestling between much larger regional powers and national groups, and with aspirations to punch far above their weight. Both Netanyahu and Orbán have a keen understanding of their respective nations’ histories and have been very adept at using it to their political advantage in domestic politics and, increasingly, on the global stage.
This is Orbán’s first official visit to Israel as prime minister, following Netanyahu’s first official visit to Budapest last July. But the two have known each other for over a decade, sharing a web of political contacts and advisers reaching from Jerusalem to Washington. Orbán has visited Jerusalem in a private capacity at least twice before, once when both men were in opposition a decade ago.
“They have given each other advice on political messaging – including on what phrases to use in speeches,” says one senior Israeli official. “And, of course, Bibi introduced Orbán to Finkelstein.”
The legendary Republican political strategist Arthur Finkelstein – master of the dark arts of negative campaigning, who created Netanyahu’s devastatingly effective “Peres will divide Jerusalem” slogan in the 1996 election – was recommended to Orbán and masterminded his 2010 reelection campaign. The New York State-based Finkelstein, who passed away last year, only made short, usually secret, appearances in the countries where he advised. But he would send his associates to supervise matters up close. The man Finkelstein sent as project manager for the 2010 Orbán campaign was his partner, George Birnbaum, who had previously lived in Israel and worked for Netanyahu as a senior aide in the ’90s. Members of the Chabad synagogue in central Budapest remember the Orthodox Birnbaum going there for prayers and Shabbat lunch, so he could be in walking distance of Orbán’s Saturday rallies.
Ties have been ongoing between Likud and Fidesz at various levels for years, with delegations from both parties visiting each other. A whole range of advisers, businesspeople and religious leaders also profit from the relationship. “I never imagined how tangled the web between Netanyahu and Orbán was,” says a senior Israeli official who recently worked on an issue of concern to both countries. “But the moment I became involved, I realized just how many millionaires and rabbis and opinion-makers are shuttling between Jerusalem and Budapest.” Ultimately, though, the relationship is down to the two leaders.
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