The leader of Hungary’s main Jewish group says they were “surprised” and “hugely disappointed” by Israel’s shift in position on the Hungarian government’s ad campaign against Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros.

While Israel’s ambassador to Hungary condemned the campaign’s anti-Semitic overtones, the Israeli Foreign Ministry later said that although it deplored anti-Semitism, it didn’t want to “delegitimize” criticism of Soros.

Andras Heisler, president of the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities, said he had asked the Israeli government to explain its position on the anti-Soros billboards.

Heisler told The Associated Press hours before the arrival in Hungary of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Hungarian Jews felt “left in the lurch” by the Israeli position.

Hungary’s government largely blames Soros, a Holocaust survivor, for Europe’s migrant crisis.

(AP)