Péter Szijjártó has told journalists and politicians who “spread fake news” of a plane landing in Budapest should show self-restraint, saying the reports were completely untrue and could put Hungary in danger in the current febrile atmosphere. “Some politicians pounced on this news and created a huge fake news tsunami from it,” the foreign minister said.
Szijjártó warns about the dangers of fake news
Szijjártó said “political profiteering” from the fake news soon caught hold in Hungary, according to a ministry statement on Tuesday.
Fake news connected to the “struggle” in the Middle East “involving terrorist organisations” could put the whole country “in very serious danger”, he said, adding that the false reports started spreading on Sunday and peddled distortions over the evacuation of Hungary’s embassy in Syria.
The Syrian embassy in Budapest could have been targeted by terrorists, he said, adding that it was also possible that terrorist attacks may be mounted against Hungarian interests, people and communities “anywhere in the world” if they terrorists were to act on information that “justify their way of thinking”.
Szijjártó called on “Hungarian journalists and all Hungarian politicians to exercise self-restraint … and try to behave a little responsibly”.
Luckily a tragedy had not occurred this time, “but it could have”, he said.
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The issue is obviously that Hungary has been very friendly with Russia – and certain elements of the Assad regime.
So much for the “Pro Peace Neutrality!” – at some point, people start to notice who you hang out with and start drawing conclusions.
Credit where it’s due, in this regard he’s right. It’s an incendiary situation in the Middle East at the moment and the sort of poorly fact checked news that alleges that a Syrian aircraft landed in Budapest on the night in question is really quite dangerous. Rumours were picked up and then published as fact while we now know that Assad and his family escaped to Moscow. The flightpath goes nowhere near Hungary and it would be illogical for any aircraft carrying the deposed dictator to fly anywhere near the EU where it’s at risk of being intercepted.
Report: Syrian Rebels Execute Opponents, Impose Sharia, Threaten Kurds/ Breitbart News/ 12/12/24.
The world should not celebrate. The incoming regime will be worse than Assad’s. If the Syrian’s plane landed in Hungary to refuel, it would not be a big thing. No plane should be allowed to crash due to lack of fuel. Premier Putin did a favor to the world by stopping further bloodshed.