A Budapest pro-Palestinian protest planned for Friday has triggered growing opposition after Hungarian police said they found no legal grounds to prohibit the gathering. The demonstration is intended to express solidarity with Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and with Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the detained former director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, whom Israeli authorities accuse of having links to Hamas.
The Community of Palestinians Living in Hungary announced the event. Its appeal calls on participants to show solidarity with Palestinian prisoners and Abu Safiya and encourages them to bring Palestinian flags, keffiyehs, photographs and posters.
Police find no grounds to ban Budapest pro-Palestinian protest
The Budapest Police Headquarters (BRFK) confirmed that a private individual had notified the authorities of a gathering falling under Hungary’s law on freedom of assembly.
“After examining the notification, the BRFK, acting as the assembly authority, took note of the gathering in the absence of grounds for prohibition,” police told Hungarian weekly Hetek.
The wording is significant: rather than formally “authorising” the protest, the police concluded that the legal conditions for banning it had not been met.
The decision has nevertheless prompted criticism because of the demonstration’s support for Abu Safiya and other Palestinian detainees.
Jewish organisation asks authorities to intervene
Before the police decision became public, Hungary’s Action and Protection Foundation, which monitors antisemitism and works to protect Jewish communities, had asked the Interior Ministry to examine whether the legal conditions existed to prohibit the gathering.
According to TEV, its president, Kálmán Szalai, also asked the authorities to assess possible public-security risks, potential threats to the dignity and safety of Hungary’s Jewish community and, if a ban was not legally possible, whether increased police security or restrictions should be imposed.
The organisation highlighted Israeli allegations concerning Abu Safiya, including claims that he held the rank of colonel within Hamas and that Kamal Adwan Hospital was used for Hamas activities.
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Mazsihisz also condemns planned rally
The Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities (Mazsihisz), Hungary’s largest Jewish religious organisation, has also strongly criticised the planned demonstration.
In a statement published on Tuesday, Mazsihisz said it was deeply concerned about the rally, arguing that what was being presented as solidarity with the Palestinian people was in fact support for Hamas, Abu Safiya and terrorism. The organisation stressed that this was its assessment of the event and called on the Hungarian authorities to take action within the framework of the law.
Mazsihisz said that the open or indirect promotion of terrorism and terrorists should not be protected under freedom of expression or the right of assembly. It also argued that such events could undermine the sense of security of Hungary’s Jewish community and social peace.
The federation called on the authorities to review current practice surrounding such demonstrations and to take all necessary legal and security measures to protect the Jewish community. It also urged the government to ensure that its declared policy of zero tolerance towards antisemitism is reflected in practice.
Israeli ambassador: ‘No place’ for demonstrations supporting terrorism
Israel’s ambassador to Hungary, Maya Kadosh, has also spoken out against the planned demonstration.
In a video message published on Facebook, Kadosh said demonstrations supporting terrorism had no place in Hungary. She argued that the Hungarian public should know the allegations against Abu Safiya before he is presented as a martyr or solely as a detained doctor.
“The white coat does not erase membership in a terrorist organisation,” Kadosh said.
Who is Hussam Abu Safiya?
Abu Safiya is a Palestinian paediatrician who directed Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. Israeli forces detained him in December 2024.
Israeli authorities and the Israel Defense Forces accuse him of involvement with Hamas. The Jerusalem Post reported in February that research based on Arabic-language sources and social-media posts identified Abu Safiya as a colonel, while the IDF also described him as a ranking Hamas member.
However, his status remains heavily disputed internationally. Abu Safiya has been held without formal charges, and Israel’s Supreme Court rejected an appeal for his release in June 2026 based partly on confidential material not made public, Reuters reported. Hamas and Gaza health authorities have denied the Israeli allegations, while international human-rights organisations have called for his release.
Amnesty International described his detention as arbitrary in July and expressed serious concerns about his health and alleged treatment in custody. Israel’s prison authorities have denied allegations of mistreatment.
The solidarity demonstration will go ahead
The competing accounts surrounding Abu Safiya are therefore central to the controversy over Friday’s Budapest pro-Palestinian protest. For its organisers, the event is a solidarity action for Palestinian detainees; for its critics, including TEV and Israel’s ambassador, publicly rallying behind Abu Safiya risks legitimising a figure whom Israel considers a senior member of Hamas.
Unless the authorities reverse their position or new legal circumstances emerge, the demonstration is expected to go ahead in central Budapest on Friday afternoon.
The demonstration is scheduled for 21 August at 2 pm on Vámház körút in central Budapest, opposite the Central Market Hall, according to the Magyarországon Élő Palesztinok Közössége (Community of Palestinians Living in Hungary).
If the solidarity demonstration does indeed go ahead, it is likely that there will also be counter-demonstrators in the square, which will present a serious challenge for the Hungarian authorities.
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I think both sides should ditch their religions consisting of believing in ancient fairytales, and form a civilized modern science based society without religions. No bombings, killings, torturing and demonstrations would be needed anymore. But I know, we humans are not developed enough for such thing, so violence will continue – in the name of [put the name of your religion here] God.
Religion has nothing to do with it, Dear Ostanus. People have been doing these kinds of terrible things to each other, long before there were ever any organized religions. The simple reality is that, though individual people from different tribes may love each other, neighbouring tribes almost always hate each other.
There are peace loving human communities, but very rare. I like the Malaysian Chewong culture and people that have a strong cultural dislike of physical violence and aggression between people. Very fascinating culture that all aggressive societies could learn a little (or a lot) from.
https://peacefulsocieties.uncg.edu/societies/chewong/
So, they massacred, with some of the most vicious brutality known to man, more than a thousand Israelis, most of whom were out enjoying a concert. They burned a baby in an oven while forcing the mother to watch. They shot kids at a birthday party in their heads, point blank. They raped a woman, killed her midway, and continued raping her.
They kidnapped a further couple hundred Israelis, keeping them in unimaginable horrors for months. Many, when released, looked like Holocaust survivors after concentration camp liberation.
They used billions of international aid dollars, including from Hungary, to build tunnels and other terrorist infrastructure.
Yet, THEY have the nerve to go out and protest!?!?!?!?!
Yeah, see you there on Friday, motherf…s.
How’s that Zionist boot tasting? Maybe if Israel didn’t murder and rape Palestinians for the last 80 decades, there wouldn’t be a Hamas or Hezbollah to reckon with.
Literally everything you describe has been committed by Israel x20 times worse, and the international aid pouring in billions is for Israel from the USA. No one has sent Palestine money for tunnels, maybe get your head out of your own ass and try having some critical thinking for once.
Sure thing, see you on Friday, but be warned, protestors are not the usual 2 years old babies that the IDF murders, so they can handle their own.
No mention of the 73,400 Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza since Oct 2023, the destruction of water treatment plants, hospitals, schools, and basically flattening the entire area. The physician has been held without charge for 600 days and of course the material they have is all “confidential”. Even if the material is confidential charge him and get on with a trial. Otherwise he must be released – Habeas Corpus. Right now the Israeli government is equipping settler terrorists in the West Bank to allow them to murder Palestinians while the army looks the other way. It’s ethnic cleansing. Disgusting.
I agree with you, Dear Larry, that the treatment of Palestinians, by Israel, is disgusting. That said, I also agree with Michael that Palestinians have also engaged in plenty of disgusting behavior. None of this is unusual, in the history of Mankind, unfortunately. Sadly, I do not see an end to this, either in the world, or in area of Palestine/Israel.
I am here back to humiliate you as usual you dumbass
How much are you paid to retreat those Mossad propaganda?
😂😂😂
We do not need this here. Hungary has got nothing to do with the Middle East, and Hungary’s ling-established Jewish community deserves to be left in peace. Let them hold their demonstrations in Saudi Arabia. Anywhere but here. They are anti-Jewish hate fests.
You are absolutely right
Lets be honest, anybody criticising the Israeli genocide of 73,000 Palestinians in Gaza, the ethnic cleansing, murders & intimidation in the Palestinian West Bank and in Lebanon and Syria is antisemitic – that includes all the experts in genocide, Amnesty International, Doctors without Borders, Save the Children, the International Criminal Courts, United Nations. Anyone who criticises Israeli Genocide is antisemitic!
Ask yourselves, why is this all of a sudden happening in Hungary of all places and why this is permitted at all Hungary has nothing to do with the Middle east, and Israel has every right to protect itself! Why is it okay to support a terrorist state !?