Switzerland 2002-3

 

Developments in the Middle East in 2002 contributed to deterioration in the climate toward Israel and toward Jews in general. A few antisemitic incidents were recorded and there was an increase in the number of pro-Palestinian rallies, street stands distributing anti-Israel materials, calls to boycott Israel and antisemitic statements. Extremists on the right and left joined forces in denouncing “imperialist Zionism” and “the Jewish lobby.” Another national debate that triggered a strong wave of anti-Jewish sentiment was the government’s proposed lifting of the 100-year-old ban on ritual slaughter. The year 2002 saw the completion of inquiries by most of the commissions set up to investigate Switzerland’s attitude during and after World War II.

 

The Jewish Community

The Jewish community remained stable at about 18,000, or 0.25 percent of Switzerland’s population of 7 million. In August 2002 the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (Schweizerischer Israelitischer Gemeindebund/Fédération Suisse des Communautés Israélites – SIG/FSCI), the umbrella organization of Swiss Jewry, set up a Jewish Forum of the Swiss Media (Jüdisches Medienforum Schweiz) to monitor and analyze Swiss media coverage of issues related to Israel and the Jews, and to counter antisemitic statements and attempts to delegitimize the State of Israel. It began working in the German-speaking part of the country under Theology Professor Ekkehard W. Stegemann, of the University of Basel.

            The community is served by a Jewish primary co-junior high school in Geneva, as well as by three newspapers: the Swiss German Tachles, the French Jewish Revue Juive, and the reform community’s Hayom.

In December 2002, Minister of Interior Ruth Dreifuss resigned from the Swiss government, a position she had held since 1993. She was the first woman and the first Jew to become president of Switzerland in 1999. Her biography, Dreifuss ist unser Name (Dreifuss Is Our Name), by Isabella Maria Fischli, was published following her departure from office.

 

political parties and extra-parliamentary groups

The refugee issue was a dominant theme in the political discourse in 2002. In an October referendum the Swiss people rejected, by a narrow margin (3,422 votes), an initiative of the Swiss People’s Party (Schweizerische Volkspartei/Union Démocratique du Centre – SVP/UDC) which would have prevented refugees sheltering in bordering countries (France, Germany, Italy and Austria) from requesting asylum in Switzerland.

            In the course of a debate over ritual slaughter (see below), two initiatives were launched in order to ban the import of kosher meat into Switzerland. One of them was proposed by Erwin Kessler, president of Verein gegen Tierfabrik (Association against Animal Factories), who has close contacts with Holocaust deniers and openly supports the far right. He has several convictions for racial offenses, including the comparison of Jewish ritual slaughter of animals with the Nazi treatment of Jews.

Ritual slaughter was one of the themes addressed by far right leaders in their publications, among other traditional antisemitic themes (see below). The most active group was Vérité & Justice (Truth & Justice), headed by Jürgen Graf (who escaped to Iran to avoid a prison sentence in Switzerland), Philippe Brennenstuhl and René-Louis Berclaz. In 2002, the latter two were sentenced to prison terms for racial discrimination (publishing Holocaust denying articles in their bulletin), and the organization was disbanded by a court decision (see ASW 2001/2).

            According to the Swiss federal police, there are about 1,000 skinheads, and their number is growing. They have become more active in recent years, holding more concerts and gatherings, publishing and distributing more propaganda (CDs, films, insignia, clothes and magazines) and accumulating weapons. They still lack a charismatic leader to unify the various groups scattered throughout the country and give cohesion to the movement. On 18 March 2002, 120 skinheads attended a meeting organized by the neo-Nazi Partei National Orientierter Schweiz (PNOS), which has ties to the German NPD. Access to the press was denied and police protection was provided.

Geneva lawyer Pascal Junod, leader of the New Right, continued to organize private lectures with far right figures from France, such as Roger Garaudy or Pierre Vial. Like the skinhead events, Junod’s evenings are by personal invitation only, so that he can not be sued for racist statements. Swiss law is only applicable when racism is expressed in public.

ANTISEMITIC ACTIVITY

Violence, Harassment and Vandalism

Several incidents of a violent nature were recorded in 2002. In early April a Jew wearing a scull cap suffered minor injuries after being attacked in Lausanne. During a Jewish community evening in a hall in Zurich in November, local thugs shouted curses and abuse at the participants and threw firecrackers at the security personnel. Further, during the Jewish New Year services in Geneva (September 2002), Arab passengers sitting in three cars cursed a group of Jews, made obscene gestures and shouted “Death to the Jews.” An 18 mm shell was discovered at the entrance to the Beit-Ya’akov (Great) Synagogue in Geneva on 20 April (Hitler’s birthday).

Swastikas and graffiti reading “Nazi” were smeared on a monument to Holocaust victims near the Beit-Ya’akov Synagogue in Geneva in February and bottles and other objects were thrown at the wall of the synagogue. Antisemitic graffiti also appeared on the walls of other synagogues in Geneva, while on the wall of a Zurich synagogue a message by the PLO called for the murder of Jews. Antisemitic graffiti also appeared on Jewish school buildings and on the wall of the Ittinger Jewish recreation home in Ruthliwaldli.

Left-wingers and anti-globalization activists placed antisemitic and racist texts on a page of the Swiss Indymedia website during a debate on the Middle East conflict. Following protests, the site managers moved the messages to another page. Aktion der Kinder des Holocaust (Switzerland), which fights dissemination of hate on the Internet, has demanded that the site be banned from the web. Bern police are investigating.

 

Anti-Israel/Antisemitic Propaganda and the Middle East Conflict

Developments in the Middle East caused deterioration in the climate toward Israel. Media programs throughout the country, featuring Palestinian journalists, Israeli film makers and human rights activists, presented a unilaterally pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel stance on the conflict, with Israel as the aggressor and the Palestinians as the victims. Antisemitic manifestations were sometimes part of the anti-Israel campaign.

There was an increase in the number of pro-Palestinian rallies, street stands distributing anti-Israel material, calls to boycott Israel and antisemitic statements. Pro-Palestinian organizations such as Urgence Palestine were active in leading weekly demonstrations and vigils mostly attended by Muslims, but also by left-wing supporters and a handful of anti-Zionist Jews. The banners read “Stop repression in Palestine,” “Stop the massacre” or “Against Imperialism and Zionism.” Following such demonstrations, graffiti was frequently sprayed on Jewish buildings and sites, including on Geneva’s Holocaust memorial and on the entrance of the main synagogue, where the word “Nazis” or swastikas appeared more than once. A growing amount of similar graffiti, equating Israel, Ariel Sharon or the Star of David with Nazism, fascism or bloodshed, was found in school classrooms, on public buildings and on sidewalks.

Initiatives calling for a boycott of Israel goods multiplied in 2002: street stands for this purpose were set up on market days or in front of shopping malls and leaflets were handed out to help customers identify the bar code of goods of Israeli origin. The Swiss media joined in these calls and attempted to investigate whether some produce was grown in the Occupied Territories and labeled “Made in Israel.” Voices calling for a boycott were also heard at the official level (Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs), but as of April 2002 they seemed to have died down.

In addition, extremists both on the right and the left joined forces in denouncing “imperialist Zionism” and “the Jewish lobby,” which was allegedly manipulating the US government in its unconditional support of Israel. Muslim representatives in Switzerland were especially outspoken, among others, Tariq and Hani Ramadan, grandsons and followers of Hassan al-Bana, Egyptian founder of the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood. While Tariq uses a sophisticated and seemingly moderate language to defend Islamic opinions, Hani, head of the Islamic Center of Geneva, promotes strict application of the shari‘a and propagates anti-Zionist ideas tinged with antisemitism. He compares Israel to a Nazi state and justifies suicide attacks against Israelis. Following an op-ed piece published in the French daily Le Monde (Sept. 2002) in which he stated that if the world followed Islamic principles there would be no AIDS epidemic, and advocated the stoning of two Nigerian women accused of adultery, he was suspended by the Geneva Minister of Education from his teaching position (French) in a Geneva junior high school. He appealed and in early 2003, the Geneva government confirmed that the positions he held of imam and high school teacher were incompatible and that Hani Ramadan should be fired from his teaching post.

 

Antisemitic Propaganda in Other Contexts

Another national debate that triggered a strong wave of anti-Jewish sentiment was the government’s proposed lifting of the 100-year-old ban on ritual slaughter. Since 1893, Jews (and Muslims) have been forbidden to slaughter animals in accordance with their religious laws. The ban, which was antisemitically motivated, was aimed at limiting Jewish immigration into Switzerland in the 19th century. Since then, kosher and hallal meat has been imported from France and Germany.

In late 2001, the Swiss government decided to lift the ban as a sign of religious tolerance. The popular reaction was unexpectedly violent, especially from animal protection societies, whose spokespersons often lapsed into antisemitic and racist speech. Jews and Muslims were accused of following bloodthirsty customs from an uncivilized age that were not acceptable in Switzerland. It was suggested that religious people “either become vegetarian or leave the country.” The media gave comprehensive coverage to these opponents, while the government largely remained silent. Hundreds of hate letters (“Jews, kill the cows in your kibbutz,” “Nazis”) were sent to Jewish leaders. One leader who received death threats filed a suit in Geneva. However, the prosecutor dismissed the case, claiming that the author of the threats “never had the intention to kill,” and merely expressed strong feelings.

In April 2002, Jürg Scherrer, elected official from the city of Biel, gave an interview to Swiss national radio in which he supported French far right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen’s statement that “the gas chambers are a detail of history” (see ASW 1997/8). A complaint was filed against him by local antiracist groups, but in the judge’s opinion, the wording was too vague for Scherrer to be prosecuted.

Veteran Nazi Gaston-Armand Amaudruz began serving a three-month prison term in January 2003. Until then and despite his conviction in 2000, he continued to publish his monthly Courrier du Continent, a 12-page bulletin promoting racist, antisemitic and Holocaust denying ideas and publications.

Small circulation, extremist publications with antisemitic content include Genevieve Aubry’s L’Atout, Ernst Indlekofer’s Recht+Freiheit and Claude and Mariette Paschoud’s Le Pamphlet.

 

attitudes toward the holocaust and the nazi era

The year 2002 saw the completion of inquiries by most commissions set up at the peak of the crisis surrounding Switzerland’s attitude during and after World War II. The historical commission headed by Professor Jean-François Bergier published in March the last studies of its 25-volume (14,000-page) research, covering all aspects of Switzerland’s stance during World War II (see ASW 2001/2). In its conclusions the commission recommended that Switzerland come to terms with its history and that the five-year research be the beginning rather than the end of discussions, debates and further study. The commission was dissolved on 31 March 2002.

The Special Fund for needy Holocaust victims ended the distribution of $175 million (SF298 million) donated for humanitarian purposes by Swiss banks and industries. The fund, headed by Rolf Bloch, identified beneficiaries around the world – Jews, political prisoners, gypsies, Christians of Jewish descent, Jehova Witnesses, homosexuals and Gentiles who had helped Jews. The commission managing the fund was dissolved in December 2002 and the remaining $8 million will go to a Jewish organization in Switzerland to help needy Holocaust survivors and to the Swiss Red Cross Fund for victims of war and torture.

The Swiss Solidarity Foundation, proposed by President Kaspar Villiger in 1997, was intended to disperse SF7 billion, interest from the sale of national gold reserves, for humanitarian projects. Originally, Holocaust victims were also on the list of beneficiaries, but were later removed under political and popular pressure. In a referendum held in September 2002, the foundation was rejected by 51.1 percent of the Swiss people. The nationalist Swiss People’s Party had proposed that the money go to social security, but this idea, too, was rejected by popular vote. To date, there have been no further suggestions for using the gold.

After the global settlement reached in August 1998 between Swiss banks and lawyers of class actions representing Holocaust victims or their heirs, a very small part of the $1.25 billion settlement has been distributed, of which $800 million went to heirs of dormant accounts holders, the rest to other victims of the Nazis. By the end of 2002 it was expected that 32,000 requests would be honored.

In December, former US Under Secretary of Commerce Stuart Eizenstat published a book, Imperfect Justice, about his personal experience as a negotiator under the Clinton Administration dealing with restitution of assets to Holocaust victims in Europe. Before the book was published and its content discussed, its cover created a major controversy in Switzerland, since it showed a Swiss flag (white cross on red background) covered with a swastika made of gold bars. Swiss reactions were extremely violent, from antisemitic e-mails sent to the World Economic Forum, which had invited Eizenstat to speak at its annual meeting in Davos in January 2003, to official complaints by historians, political figures and editorialists. The Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities stated it was shocked by the cover and offended by the association of Jews and money, which it had had to combat during the dormant accounts crisis. Two lawyers filed suits against Eizenstat for defaming the Swiss emblem. Einzenstat gave numerous interviews to the Swiss press stating that he regretted if the cover had shocked some people, but that it reflected historical facts regarding Switzerland’s wartime attitude. He added that the content of the book gave a balanced and fair analysis of what had happened.

 

RESPONSES TO ANTISEMITISM

In a poll of 540 Jews conducted by the Swiss Jewish weekly Tachles in early September 2003, 58 percent said the situation in Switzerland had worsened for the country’s Jews, 40 percent saw no change and 2 percent claimed an improvement. In the German-speaking part, the first figure was 66 percent and in the Romansh Canton, 49 percent. Personally heard antisemitic remarks rose from 11 percent in 1997 to 18 percent in 2002. Eighty-four percent noted hostility in the press toward Israel, 74 percent on TV and 56 percent on radio.

As a result of the deterioration of the Swiss attitude toward Israel and toward Jews in general, the Jewish community has adopted a higher profile, responding more often and more strongly. For example, Swiss Jews conducted a media campaign to denounce the biased coverage of the events in Jenin (see ASW 2001/2), writing dozens of letters to editors questioning journalistic ethics, buying advertising space in newspapers to have their opinion heard, and meeting with editors-in-chief and reporters to discuss concrete examples of ethical and professional breaches in published stories. In April 2002 over 200 students of the Jewish Students Association in Zurich demonstrated against increasing manifestations of racism and antisemitism in Europe.

At the annual meeting of the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities, the president, Alfred Donath, accused Switzerland of indirectly funding Palestinian textbooks with anti-Zionist and antisemitic content. He was immediately attacked by the press and the public, and received scores of hate mail and threats. Swiss radio tried to investigate the issue further, but was unable to clarify the final destination of Swiss humanitarian aid to the Palestinians through UNRWA.

A national website designed to coordinate data on Internet crimes was set up in Switzerland on 1 January 2003 in all cantons except Zurich. The definition of these crimes includes specific reference to antisemitic and other hate propaganda.