Israel thanks Hungary’s Orban for ‘friendship & steady support’ after election loss, congratulates presumptive PM Magyar

Following the election loss of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Sunday night, Israel’s staunchest ally in the European Union, several Israeli leaders congratulated his designated successor, Peter Magyar, on Monday.

Notably, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and President Isaac Herzog were the first to congratulate Magyar, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had openly endorsed Orbán, had not issued a statement at the time of publication.

“Congratulations to TISZA and Peter Magyar on your victory in Hungary national elections,” wrote Sa’ar, adding Israel looks “forward to continuing working together on further strengthening the good relations between our two countries and expanding our cooperation in different fields of mutual interests.”

Herzog wished Magyar “every success,” praising the “friendship and historic relations between Israel and Hungary, with the vibrant Hungarian Jewish community continuing to serve as a strong bridge between our two peoples.”

President @Isaac_Herzog: “Wishing @magyarpeterMP congratulations and every success following his election victory in Hungary. We look forward with great confidence to deepening the friendship and historic relations between Israel and Hungary, with the vibrant Hungarian Jewish…

— Office of the President of Israel (@IsraelPresident) April 13, 2026

Both explicitly thanked Orbán for his “friendship and longstanding support” for Israel.

The Hungarian election drew much attention in Israel, as the country has been among the few to unequivocally stand beside Israel over the past few years, with Orbán openly going against EU efforts to block anti-Israel sanctions.

that one of its strongest remaining allies in Europe could shift its position or at least tone down its level of support.

Orbán was also the only EU leader to join U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace for Gaza and vowed to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) while inviting Netanyahu to visit despite the court's arrest warrant.

However, support for Orbán in Israel has been split along party lines, with many opposition leaders characterizing his government as a “dictatorship” and accusing Netanyahu of aiming to follow his example, particularly through the controversial judicial reforms before the war in Gaza in 2023.

Reacting to Orbán's election loss, Yair Golan, chairman of The Democrats party, said “We wake up with hope in our hearts,” praising “the downfall of Viktor Orbán after sixteen years of one-man rule.”

“In just a few short months, we'll head to the polls too. We'll prove that here as well, the attempts to dismantle Israeli democracy and the Zionist enterprise will fail miserably,” he said.

Meanwhile, opposition Leader Yair Lapid and Blue and White party chairman, Benny Gantz, congratulated Magyar on his victory.

“Being an important partner to Israel, and a voracious defender of Jewish life locally, may under your leadership Hungary continue being a beacon of western values and moral clarity within the European Community,” Gantz wrote.

Last month, Netanyahu praised Orbán as “a rock” in a video message to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Budapest.

“You need leaders who can protect against this rising tide [of Islamic terrorism], and can ensure safety and stability for their own countries… This is what Viktor Orbán has in abundance.”

“Viktor Orbán means safety, security, stability,” he added.

🇭🇺🤝🇮🇱 Thank you for your support! We will continue to ensure that Jewish communities in Hungary can live in safety, dignity, and peace. https://t.co/deHkKU2kPj

— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) April 12, 2026

The day before the election, Israeli Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli endorsed Orbán in a long post on 𝕏, noting that under his government, Budapest is “one of the safest capitals in Europe for Jews, and one of the very few where a Jew can walk to synagogue on Shabbat morning wearing a tallit and kippah without fear. This is no accident. It stems from a responsible immigration policy, zero tolerance for antisemitism, and consistent enforcement of the law.”

“When the October 7 massacre occurred, Hungary acted immediately: it hosted Israeli delegations, became a safe haven for Israeli sports teams, banned demonstrations supporting the terrorist organization Hamas, and in a powerful symbolic gesture, renamed the square in front of the Great Synagogue ‘October 7 Square’ in memory of the victims,” Chikli wrote.

Before the election, a European diplomat told The Times of Israel (TOI) that even if Magyar wins, “I’m sure Hungary will still be a country that is very sympathetic towards Israel.”

According to Wolfgang Münchau, director of Eurointelligence, Magyar is not at all a left-wing candidate, despite having beaten the conservative stalwart Orbán.

“If Péter Magyar had won against a centrist candidate, the headlines this morning would be about another European country falling to a right-wing populist,” he wrote on 𝕏.

“What happened in Hungary is the same that happened in Germany in 1998 and 2021. After the leader had been in power for 16 years, voters wanted a fresh face, but not a fundamentally different policy.”

A former senior Israeli diplomat familiar with EU relations told Ynet News that, even if Hungary stopped openly going against EU policy to support Israel, another country might eventually take its place.

“Until a few years ago, Greece was the country that consistently blocked anti-Israel measures in EU institutions… In 2016, due to dependence on EU funding and decisions, Greece stepped back, and Hungary took its place – without any request from us, for its own reasons.”

The official also warned: “Hungary’s support – a country not well-liked within the EU – did not necessarily improve our image. I can think of several more mainstream European countries that could fill that role. What matters most is that Germany and Italy block harmful measures against us… As long as Merz is chancellor [of Germany], the risk of sanctions against Israel remains low, at least until our elections in October.”

A European diplomat told TOI that Orbán's actions were more important for blocking anti-Israel statements than preventing concrete measures.

“A statement… doesn’t change things on the ground as such, [but] it is a sort of tool of diplomacy,” the official said. The main concrete step blocked by Hungary was a sanctions package targeting violent settlers and supporting groups in Judea and Samaria.

Maya Sion-Tzidkiyahu, director of the Israel-Europe Relations Program at the Israeli think tank Mitvim, told TOI that Magyar is expected to increase cooperation with the EU and could also cancel the withdrawal from the ICC, but probably won’t diminish bilateral relations with Israel.

He may also seek “to distance himself from Netanyahu, who is very closely associated with Orban,” to send a “very clear signal to the EU and others that ‘we are not Orban,’” she added.