András Pátkai
András Pátkai is the European Director of the Israel Allies Foundation (appointed July 2013). A Hungarian national he was formerly the CEO of the TV channel ATV Hungary from 2003 - 2005.[1] The website of the Israel Allies Foundation provides the following biography:
- András heads the European operations of the IAF based in Brussels. He has a strong background in international affairs, both in business and in political activities. András holds an MA in English history, literature, and linguistics, along with a degree in education from ELTE University, Budapest, where he studied Hebrew, Jewish history, and culture at the Center of Jewish Studies of the same university. After his study, Andras spent a year working and studying in Israel. As a certified real estate consultant and appraiser, and former CEO of a leading commercial television station, he is successfully involved as an entrepreneur in the security, energy, media, and real estate sectors in Central Eastern Europe, with a focus on startup business development and high-tech inventions.
- Andras has also lived in several African countries, speaking a number of languages. His extensive travels throughout Europe, Russia, the Americas, China, and Southeast Asia enable him to tap into resources and achieve goals on a global level.
- For the last 20 years he has been actively engaged in fostering communication between European organizations and Christian communities on the one hand and the modern State of Israel on the other. In 2009 Andras was introduced to the Israel Allies Foundation and the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus in Jerusalem by Pastor Sándor Németh of Faith Church, Hungary. Since then, his commitment to the cause of IAF and participation in activities from the European Parliament, through the Federal Assembly of Russia, to the Israeli Knesset, has developed into a more comprehensive and focused framework.[2]
He is a member of the Faith Church, Hungary a major Pentecostal Church which is a strong supporter of Israel. In 2010 Pátkai was involved in promoting a bill in the Hungarian parliament that would criminalise holocaust denial.[3]
Views
Following his appointment as the European Director of the IAF he commented:
- It seems the EU unashamedly targets the only country in the region that has similar democratic values to its own, namely political diversity and the rule of law, respect for human rights, as well as shared geopolitical interests,” said Pátkai. “Perhaps more focus on these real issues would bring a clearer vision, something to leave for the next generation, and solve the identity crisis on this continent. Of all people, Europeans know best that Jews have a historical and legal right to be in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.[4]
In January 2014 Pátkai attended a speech given by former prime minister of Spain José María Aznar at the Henry Jackson Society. At the event he asked Aznar's opinion of organising a 'counter boycott' in the United States that would boycott European organisations and businesses that divested from Israel.[5]
Contact
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andras.patkai.1
Notes
- ↑ linkedin Andras Patkai. Accessed 4 May 2015.
- ↑ Israel Allies Foundation Website Israel Allies Foundation Staff. Accessed 4 May 2015.
- ↑ Benjamin Weinthal, Hungary passes landmark Holocaust denial law, Jerusalem Post, 19 March 2010, accessed 4 May 2015
- ↑ Knesset Christian Allies Caucus Website Hungarian EU veteran András Pátkai to lobby for Israel in Brussels. Accessed 4 May 2015.
- ↑ Henry Jackson Website [http://henryjacksonsociety.org/2014/01/30/added-value-israels-strategic-worth-to-the-eu-and-its-member-states/ Event Transcript: ‘Added Value: Israel’s Strategic Worth to the EU and its Member States’ by Henry Jackson Society SPEAKER: José María Aznar, Former Prime Minister of Spain]. Accessed 4 May 2015.
