Hungary tells ‘Post’ its ambassador to Lebanon did not praise Hezbollah

Budapest says ambassador only attended the exhibition as part of his work as a diplomat.

By ARIEL BEN SOLOMON
The Mleeta resistance museum in Lebanon. (photo credit: Courtesy)
The Mleeta resistance museum in Lebanon.
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Hungary’s ambassador to Lebanon denies a report that he praised Hezbollah, the Hungarian Foreign Ministry told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
The Post reported on Monday that the ambassador visited a Hezbollah monument while on a “jihad tour” in south Lebanon and “expressed his admiration at Hezbollah’s great achievement for Lebanon, at liberating the land and the people,” as reported by Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV on February 28, according to a transcript provided by MEMRI (the Middle East Media Research Institute).
“Let me inform you that Al-Manar television made the false allegation that Hungary’s ambassador to Lebanon, László Váradi, had made a statement during his visit to a museum in Lebanon. Ambassador Váradi actually paid a visit to a museum in southern Lebanon, which displayed an exhibition open to all visitors,” Gabor Kaleta, the press chief of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry, wrote in an email to the Post.
“The Hungarian ambassador attended the exhibition as part of his work as a diplomat to gain insight into the life of his host country, but he did not make any statements during his visit,” Kaleta said, adding that Varadi will ask Al-Manar “to issue a public statement rectifying the error.”
According to the website of the Mleeta Resistance Tourist Landmark-Lebanon, the museum seeks “to preserve the places where the mujahideen lived, giving people the chance to be acquainted with the style of the unique experience of the Islamic resistance against the Israeli enemy.”