Hungarian government didn't interfere with Holocaust-denying former Iranian president being invited to Hungary, but they banned Kneecap

After weeks of controversy, the question of whether Kneecap would play a concert in Hungary was finally settled last week: the government announced that it had banned the three members of the Northern Irish rap trio from the country for three years, as they present a national security threat. Given the Israeli-Hungarian friendship, the decision was to be expected, but it caused a major stir nonetheless. Kneecap responded by attacking Orbán, while the organizers of the Sziget festival said that the government's decision could damage the country's international reputation. Even the renowned Hungarian musician László Dés, who had signed a petition against the concert, said he felt the government had gone too far with the move.

In a closed group of his supporters on a social media platform, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán explained that "hateful racists, anti-Semites and those who support terrorists have no place in Hungary." Although he did not specifically name the band, it was clear that his Thursday post was a reference to the Kneecap case. However, one need not go back too far in time to find reasons to doubt Orbán's statement.

It was less than two months ago that former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whom the Israeli embassy two years ago described as a “self-appointed Holocaust denier,” gave a lecture at the National University of Public Service (NKE) in Budapest for the second year in a row.

The Israeli embassy's characterization of the former Iranian president came after it had been revealed that the NKE had invited him to its conference entitled Sustainability in a Changing World last May. In their statement at the time, they wrote that while president Ahmadinejad had called for the destruction of Israel, and that his visit was a serious insult to and trampling on the memory of Hungarian victims of the Holocaust. The Federation of Hungarian Jewish communities, Mazsihisz also protested against the invitation, pointing out that it was in stark contrast to the (government's) policy of zero tolerance for anti-Semitism.

The government, however, saw no problem with the former Iranian president being invited to the NKE. "The government did not meet with the former Iranian president. He was here as part of an event held at the university. In Hungary, there is freedom of education and freedom of speech at universities. The government does not interfere in the activities of universities," the Foreign Ministry said at the time. Gergely Gulyás, Minister of the Prime Minister's Office also confirmed this at a government briefing at the time, noting that "in a free world, in a free country, banning university lectures would be difficult".

Although Ahmadinejad did not come to Hungary at the invitation of the government and did not meet with government officials, and Gulyás even distanced himself from his Holocaust-denying statements, the fact remains that in 2024, the former Iranian president was provided with a security detail reserved for persons under protection. In light of the recent events, it is also worth mentioning that while he was president of Iran, he openly supported Hamas and Hezbollah, which is largely funded by his country.

In light of this, and given the government's announcement about banning Kneecap from entering the country, it would have been entirely justified to also ban Ahmadinejad from doing so. Even though it wasn’t the government who invited him, just as they weren’t the ones to invite Kneecap, since freedom of speech also applies to cultural life. Three years ago, they didn't ban Ukrainian artist Alina Past from entering the country, even though she said in advance that she was planning on taking a stand against Russia at her concert at Sziget Festival, which she did. Sziget also hasn't banned Russian performers in the past few years – they've been consistent in their stand against cultural embargoes.

Although the two are far from the same, it is worth mentioning that the Hungarian government seems to be applying this principle to sports as well: just last week it was revealed that a Russian-American wrestling match had been organized in nearly complete secrecy in the Budapest suburb of Csepel. Russian newspapers quoted Péter Szijjártó, Hungary's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, who drew comparisons with what used to be known as ping-pong diplomacy in a social media post about the event. He has also spoken out against the ban imposed on Russian athletes on several occasions before. Prior to the Paris Olympics, he said that “we must stand firm in our belief that geopolitics should have no place in sport.”

We attempted to resolve the contradiction between the cases of Kneecap and Ahmadinejad by contacting the Government's Information Center (KTK) to find out whether they believed Ahmadinejad's visits were compatible with Hungary's zero tolerance policy towards all forms of anti-Semitism. We were also curious to know what they thought about these visits and whether the former Iranian president would be allowed to enter the country in the future. We did not receive a response to our questions before the publication of this article.