Hungarian - Israeli cultural relations
Hungary has maintained excellent diplomatic relations with the State of Israel for several decades. Our bilateral cooperation - which has deepened in recent years - also includes the broad aspects of cultural, scientific and educational relations. Cultural relations between Hungary and Israel have always been nourished on fertile soil, primarily due to the historical ties between the peoples of the two nations. Another important background for the cultural and educational cooperation - which is currently flourishing - is our exceptionally good and strong political and economic relationship.
During Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Hungary in July 2017, a bilateral cultural and educational cooperation work plan was signed, and in July 2018, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced the Israeli Hungarian Cultural Year for 2019, during which the Hungarian government provided a large-scale Hungarian cultural visibility in Israel. The program series of the Hungarian Cultural Year in Israel well reflected the diversity of the Hungarian-Israeli cultural relationship. On the one hand, there were lectures and events presenting the classical features of Hungarian culture at a high level, but there was no shortage of new-wave, form-breaking appearances in the fields of classical and contemporary music, dance, film and fine arts, literature and gastronomy. During the Cultural Season, the performace of the Győr Ballet, the National Theater's play Woyzeck, the Hungarian State Opera's play, the Queen of Saba and the Budapest Operett Theater's performances of the Bride's Dance were a huge success, while the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble has also been a huge success with their performance of Liszt Mosaics at the Karmieli International Dance Festival.
We prioritize our active relationships with the Hungarian diaspora of 300 000 individuals and with the Hungarian diaspora organizations: We pay special attention to nurturing and preserving the Hungarian Jewish culture and identity. Until the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic at the beginning of 2020 - which set cultural events back worldwide and banished them to the online space for a long time - since 2013, our embassy organized the Hungarian Days in Tel Aviv every year as a prominent cultural event, which became a large-scale music and gastronomic festival well-known and popular both among the Hungarian-speaking and the wider audience.
Today, hundreds of Israeli students are pursuing higher education at our universities, including in the framework of the Stipendium Hungaricum (SH) Scholarship Program and, in the case of students of Hungarian origin, the Diaspora Scholarship Program. The Stipendium Hungaricum, the Hungarian government's most prestigious higher education scholarship program, offers a wide range of courses for international students with an excellent academic record. During their studies in Hungary, students with Hungarian ancestry can discover the thousand-year-old Hungarian history and culture, experience the unique Hungarian traditions and simultaneously improve their Hungarian language skills within the framework of the Diaspora Scholarship Program.
Feel free to contact us:
Cultural attaché: Ms. Lili SIMÓ
E-mail: lsimo{at}mfa.gov.hu
Phone: +972 3 545 6666
