A number of Arab and foreign ambassadors participated in a prayer for peace and end to the war at the Protestant Church in the fifth district of Budapest, Hungary. The event took place in the absence of media coverage.
During the ceremony, speeches were made, shedding light on the grave war crimes perpetrated by Israel and resounding appeals called for an immediate cessation of aggression and heinous massacres inflicted upon the Palestinian people, as well as rejection of double standards and urging the Hungarian government to take a principled position by condemning Israeli crimes.
Father Lawrence Hajdus, leader of the Protestant Church called for an instant ceasefire.
Dr. Fadi Husseini, ambassador of Palestine to Hungary spoke about war crimes before and October 7th. He underscored the dangers of legitimizing further war crimes by wrongly categorizing them as self-defense. He posed a question: On what basis an occupying power is granted the right to defend itself on a territory it seized, which is clearly a blatant violation of international law. He concluded by asserting that hope commences with the cessation of massacres and culminates with the termination of the occupation, paving the way for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital.
Dr. Nasri Atti, member of the Palestinian Doctors and Pharmacists Union in Hungary, reflected on the values of human life. He shared his personal aspiration to return to his homeland, shattered by persistence of the occupation. He repeated Yasser Arafat’s words “Don’t let the olive branch fall from my hand”, which Israel has successfully done.
In addition, Elod Novak, member of the Hungarian parliament attended the ceremony on his personal capacity and made a remark. Novak was the sole Hungarian MP voting against the Hungarian parliament’s statement, which only denounced the Palestinians.
Peter Reiner, a prominent member of the Jewish community expressed his perspective at this gathering.
The participants pledged to organize protests and challenge previous court decision that prevented them from organizing solidarity protests with Palestine. The participants affirmed their commitment to the Palestinian cause and the fundamental right of the Palestinian people to freedom.
