(JTA) – Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban vowed to protect religious freedoms in his country during a talk with foreign rabbis visiting for the opening of a large kosher slaughterhouse for geese. Orban, whose right-wing government is currently under heavy criticism by the Mazsihisz umbrella group of Hungarian Jewish communities for its campaign against the left-leaning Jewish billionaire George Soros, received the rabbis last week in the Hungarian capital, his office’s website said. The visitors, including Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel David Lau, Rabbi Menachem Margolin of the European Jewish Association and Rabbi Slomo Koves of Hungary’s Chabad-affiliated EMIH community, heard from Orban that “Hungary’s Jewish community is under the unconditional protection of the Government” and that, “As with the other historic churches, Jewish congregations in Hungary also receive the full amount of available funding,” the website said. The foreign rabbis attended the opening of the slaughterhouse in Csengele, south of Budapest, Koves said. One of the largest slaughterhouses of its kind in Europe, it is under the joint rabbinical supervision of EMIH and the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. Margolin said in a statement that Orban’s gesture and the opening of the slaughterhouse is especially appreciated at a time when parliaments in Belgium’s regions pass motions about “banning kosher slaughter and other countries are undermining freedom of religion all over Europe.”

According to some media, the Hungarian government decided to take down its billboard campaign against George Soros in connection with the visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Budapest next week, though the government denied the claim. In an email to JTA, a government spokesman said criticism against Soros, who funds many Hungarian opposition groups, is his support for organizations devoted to fighting the government’s refusal to take in immigrants from the Middle East.

CAP: Viktor Orban