BUDAPEST: The mayor of a town in eastern Hungary has held an event hanging effigies of the prime minister and former president of Israel to protest the war in Gaza.

Mihaly Zoltan Orosz, who has been mayor of Erpatak since 2005, told The Associated Press Monday that the “Jewish terror state” is trying to obliterate the Palestinians and said he opposed “the efforts of Freemason Jews to rule the world.”

An online video of Saturday’s event shows an executioner with a black hood over his face kicking chairs out from under the puppets of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former President Shimon Peres, each tied to a gallows.

Meanwhile, France’s foreign minister said in unusually harsh language that Israel’s right to security does not justify the “massacre” of civilians. The French president said Gaza was among the wars that called into question any ability to remain neutral.

“How many more deaths must there be to stop what must be called the carnage in Gaza? The tradition of friendship between France and Israel is old and Israel’s right to security is total, but this right does not justify the killing of children and the massacre of civilians,” Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said.

Fabius said a cease-fire, followed by a two-state solution, is needed and “should be imposed by the international community because, despite numerous attempts, the two sides have shown themselves to be incapable of concluding negotiations.”

In a speech commemorating the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I, French President Francois Hollande said wars raging near Europe’s borders called neutrality into question. In a grim litany of violence, he cited Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and, finally, Gaza.

“How can we remain neutral, when in Gaza a deadly conflict endures for nearly a month?” Hollande said. “There is an obligation to act.”