Benjamin Landa, a New York businessman and the son of a Holocaust survivor, was nominated in October to be the U.S. ambassador to Hungary — a delicate assignment given tensions over the U.S.’ relationship with the country.

Landa, 69, is a yeshiva graduate and well-known philanthropist supporting Jewish, Israeli and other causes, including as founder of the Chabad of Port Washington. His father, Yehoshua Boruch Landa, served as a rabbi in prewar Czechoslovakia and survived the Nazi regime, but most of his family, who resided in Hungary, were killed in the Holocaust, according to Newsday. 

“My father, despite all the horrors he went through, he never lost his humanity, he never lost his sense of humor,” Landa told the New York Post. “It taught me the idea of resilience and starting from scratch – starting all over from the depths of hell to rise like a phoenix and that was my father – he never gave up.”

He’s also been a prominent donor to Republican political causes, and met in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump and advisor Roger Stone earlier this year. Landa was reportedly actively pursuing the role during that White House meeting.

He also met with right-wing Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir during the Israeli official’s visit to the United States in April.

But Landa’s confirmation process could be a tricky one — for multiple reasons. 

Landa and his business, SentosaCare, have been dogged by a series of scandals. Nursing homes affiliated with Landa’s company have repeatedly faced fines, violations and complaints over allegations of insufficient care, among other issues. A federal judge ruled in 2019 that Landa and his business partner had violated human trafficking laws, using threats to coerce more than 200 nurses to remain in their jobs. 

In 2022, New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Landa, various business partners and a nursing home of which he was a part owner for “repeated and persistent fraud and illegality … including but not limited to violating several laws designed to protect nursing home residents and cutting necessary staffing in order to further enrich the owners and their families.”

Landa has disputed such allegations and sued media outlets that have alleged wrongdoing or mistreatment of patients in the past. Some lawmakers may bring up the scandals at Landa’s as-yet-unscheduled confirmation hearing.

Additionally, while the Trump administration and other conservatives have forged close relationships with Hungarian President Viktor Orbán, other Republicans have been deeply critical of Orbán and his government, particularly due to the Hungarian leader’s hostility to NATO and the Ukraine war.

In 2023, Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, blocked arms sales to Hungary over its refusal to approve Sweden’s entry into NATO.

Landa could face questions at his hearing on how he’ll navigate that relationship and work to persuade Hungary to cooperate with the U.S. on Ukraine and other priorities.

In the last decade and a half, Hungary has gained a reputation as the most conservative European nation, a distinction happily touted by the country’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, who has been in office since 2010. 

In building that reputation, Orbán has courted controversy — with inflammatory comments about racial minorities and the LGBTQ community, by taking measures that critics say erode the country’s democracy and by adopting a more pro-Russia stance than most of the rest of the European Union. His hard-line policies are part of why Orbán and President Donald Trump have been able to cultivate a close relationship, with the U.S. and Hungary now far more aligned than they were during the Biden administration.

“That’s an understatement,” János Bóka, Hungary’s minister for EU affairs, told Jewish Insider with a laugh during a visit to Washington last week. 

But if Trump has taken a page from Orbán’s conservative governing playbook, bringing the two countries closer together, Bóka said there is one political trend playing out among American conservatives that he hopes Hungary avoids: the rise of antisemitism on the political right. 

“I am aware of the discussion that you are now having in the States on the reviving of antisemitism on the right. One of the added values of my trip in the U.S. is that I can study this firsthand and can discuss this with people so I have a better understanding,” Bóka said. “This phenomenon is something that is very difficult for me to understand, because at least in Hungary and in most parts of Europe, it doesn’t have a parallel, or at least not yet.”

That’s because Bóka says Hungary has all but eliminated right-wing antisemitism and the lingering vestiges of Nazi ideology, or at the very least that the country has made it “politically irrelevant.” 

“I cannot pretend the 20th century did not happen,” said Bóka, who as of May also serves as Hungary’s special commissioner tasked with fighting antisemitism. But, he added, “this government has basically expelled political antisemitism from the political discourse.” 

The situation in Hungary is more complicated than Bóka let on. Orbán has faced criticism from Jewish organizations for years over his targeting of Hungarian Holocaust survivor and financier George Soros, with the Anti-Defamation League writing in 2018 that the Hungarian campaign against Soros is “chilling.” Deborah Lipstadt, the Holocaust historian who served as the State Department’s antisemitism envoy during the Biden administration, said in 2022 that Orbán’s rhetoric warning against racial mixing “clearly evokes Nazi racial ideology.” 

Bóka, who was in Washington to meet with American Jewish communal leaders, said Hungary has adopted a “zero-tolerance policy toward antisemitism,” and said the allegation that Orbán is antisemitic is “wrong” and “a misunderstanding of what he does.”

Similar to Trump, Budapest has adopted the stated goal of combating antisemitism, even if its approach is controversial and targeted toward one particular political ideology. And like Trump, Bóka views the fight against antisemitism as tied to the country’s broader efforts to limit migration. 

“We see some elements coming from the far left and as a part of a European network that is becoming more active and vocal in Hungary as well in the past few months. But I think this is very limited,” said Bóka. “We haven’t seen violent incidents that are in any way similar to what we see in some Western European cities because of the strict migration policy we have in place. And also because of the zero tolerance policy on antisemitism, we don’t see radical Islamism as a political factor in Hungary.” 

Because his job description includes Hungary’s relationship with the EU, Bóka sees his purview as broader than just antisemitism in Hungary. He called it a “European challenge” that must be addressed together. “Antisemitism exists in all EU member states, including Hungary,” Bóka acknowledged. He thinks he — and Hungary — have something to offer other European nations as they seek to combat antisemitism. 

His first lesson to them is about Israel: If you are serious about fighting antisemitism, Bóka argues, attacking Israel’s actions in Gaza in EU forums will undermine that goal. Israel has leaned heavily on Orbán as a pro-Israel bulwark in the EU. Hungary announced earlier this year that it would leave the International Criminal Court to protest its treatment of Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces an arrest warrant from the body. 

Jewish communities “will never believe that you are credible, that you have a real political commitment for fighting antisemitism, if at the same time you send very mixed messages as far as your relationship with the State of Israel is concerned,” said Bóka. “If you start speaking the language of isolation, sanctions and so forth, then you will lose the opportunity to cooperate with the State of Israel on fighting antisemitism in Europe, which is indispensable.” 

During his time in Washington, Bóka met with Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, Trump’s nominee to serve as U.S. antisemitism special envoy. Kaploun had his Senate confirmation hearing last week but has not yet been confirmed. Bóka also met in New York with Jeff Bartos, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations for management and reform. He said he is “convinced” that the U.S. and Hungary can collaborate on fighting antisemitism. 

“I believe that we have a very similar strategic view on objectives and the ways and means to get there,” said Bóka. “I think there’s a lot of openness on both sides to cooperate.”

BUDAPEST, Hungary — More countries plan to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in remarks to the press on Thursday with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, soon after Budapest announced that it would exit the court.

“You and your leadership have done remarkable things for Israel and the Jewish people,” Netanyahu said to Orban. “You stand with us at the EU and the U.N. You took a principled position on the ICC.”

Netanyahu called on “all democracies to stand up to this corrupt organization. It is important as we fight this battle against barbarism.”

“You are the first and dare I say not the last to walk away from this corruption, this rottenness,” he said to Orban.

Netanyahu and Orban spoke on the phone with President Donald Trump on Thursday about Hungary’s withdrawal from the ICC and possible next steps on the matter, according to a readout from Netanyahu’s office.

ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Kahn issued warrants last year to arrest Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes. In response, Hungary said at the time that it would not honor the warrant and invited Netanyahu to visit. Several other countries have said they would not arrest Netanyahu and Gallant were they to visit, but out of caution, the prime minister has thus far only traveled to the U.S. — which, like Israel, is not a party to the court — and Hungary.

In Budapest, Buda Palace rolled out the red carpet, receiving Netanyahu with an honor guard including a military marching band, cavalry and guards holding bayonets.

Orban said that he is “actually an expert when it comes to this matter” of the ICC because, as prime minister in 1999, he signed Hungary’s accession to the court.

“I am convinced that it has become a political court, not a court of the rule of law,” he said. “We do not wish to have any part of it in the coming period.” 

Orban and Netanyahu also spoke of their countries as defenders of Western civilization.

“In recent years, Hungary has been an island of freedom in Europe, the standard-bearer of Judeo-Christian tradition … Israel can count on Hungary in the future as the impenetrable bastion of Judeo-Christian culture,” Orban declared.

The Hungarian prime minister tied issues on the continent to “illegal migration,” saying that it “contributed to the increase of antisemitism.”

“The Brussels elite does not move to stop [migration], however, Hungary does not accept any type of migration,” he said.

“There is a phenomenon that surprised all of us,” Orban said. “In Western Europe, antisemitism reached levels never before seen. People waving Hamas flags. There is zero tolerance in Hungary for antisemitism.”

Orban described the Hungarian Jewish community as the “third largest in Europe and the most safe in Europe.”

About 80,000-100,000 Jews live in Hungary, making it the third-largest community in the EU, and the country reports lower than the European average levels of antisemitism, according to a report published last year by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights.

Echoing Orban, Netanyahu said that “Western civilization is under assault from one powerful quarter: radical Islam.”

But rather than tie the issue to migration, Netanyahu said that the assault is “spearheaded by one country, Iran.”

”We were attacked by Iranian proxies in a murderous campaign, and we will smash the Iranian terror axis, which threatens not only us, but Europe and many of our neighbors in the Middle East. By doing that we are also protecting Europe,” he said, adding that Orban understands this while many other leaders do not.

More than half a million Hungarian Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, with the Hungarian government closely collaborating with the Nazis and killing tens of thousands on their own. Orban has faced accusations of whitewashing Hungarian complicity in the Holocaust.

The Hungarian prime minister briefly referenced the Holocaust in his remarks, saying that “Jews had a difficult past in Hungary [but] now regard it as their home.” 

Netanyahu also downplayed Hungary’s role in the Holocaust. He recalled a visit to the country in 1991, when he was Israel’s deputy foreign minister and the countries were reestablishing relations.

“You had exited the ravages of World War II only to be under a new type of occupation, and it took many decades to liberate yourselves,” he said.

Netanyahu said that was reminiscent of the struggles of the Jewish people, which he acknowledged were at “another level,” and said “one-third of our people were murdered in the Holocaust, and we had to reestablish our historic homeland against all odds.” 

He also praised Orban’s “bold stance against antisemitism,” including adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, which, he said, “says that if you think there shouldn’t be a Jewish state, you’re an antisemite.”