switzerland 2004

 

There was no change in the level of antisemitic activity in Switzerland in 2004. While violent antisemitic attacks were of a sporadic nature, there persisted an underlying antisemitism, characterized by preconceived images and ideas concerning the Jewish population in Switzerland. Articles delegitimizing Israel and equating it with Nazi Germany, as well as accusing the Jews of trying to gain political power globally, continued to appear in mainstream papers. The Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities has stepped up its efforts to combat anti-Israel/antisemitic propaganda.

 

The Jewish Community

The Jewish community remained stable at about 18,000, or 0.25 percent of Switzerland’s population of 7 million. The main umbrella organization of Swiss Jewry is the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (Schweizerischer Israelitischer Gemeindebund/Fédération Suisse des Communautés Israélites – SIG/FSCI). CICAD (Coordination Intercommunautaire Contre l’Antisémitisme et la Diffamation), based in Geneva, represents Switzerland’s French-speaking Jewish communities. The Jewish Forum of the Swiss Media, set up in 2002 by SIG/FSCI and CICAD, was restructured in late 2004 into Media Watch, whose task is 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. Media Watch works in close collaboration with the Jewish organization AKdH (Aktion Kinder des Holocaust), which runs the biggest database in Switzerland on information of Jewish interest. AKdH also runs the program ‘Internet-Streetworking’, which seeks to rehabilitate neo-Nazi youngsters from the streets.

The community is served by Jewish primary and junior high schools in Geneva, Lausanne and Zurich, as well as by three Swiss newspapers: the German Tachles, the Jüdische Zeitung and the French Revue Juive.

 

Political Parties and extra-parliamentary groups

Anti-Immigrant Right-Wing Parties

The Swiss right-wing has been gaining ground steadily in the last few years. The xenophobic anti-EU Swiss People’s Party (SVP), now led by Ueli Maurer, won the largest share of the vote – 26 percent – in the October 2003 general election. The SVP, which promotes a highly restrictive policy towards non-Swiss residents of the country, belongs to the national-conservative wing of the right, alongside the smaller Swiss Democrats, Swiss Freedom Party and Lega dei Ticinesi. Former SVP leader Christoph Blocher was elected a federal councilor at the end of 2003, with responsibility for the Federal Department of Justice and Police; as such he has jurisdiction over civil rights and asylum laws.

            The xenophobic Swiss Democrats, who promote discriminatory policies against immigrants, hold one seat in the National Council (out of 200). Party president Bernhard Hess, their representative in the National Council, is known to have regular contacts with European right-wing extremist organizations and to attend their gatherings. In October 2004 Hess and 50 co-signers (mainly from the SVP and prominent members of the Liberal Democratic Party, FDP) called for abrogating the anti-racism article of the Penal Code (StGB Art. 261bis) and for the Federal Council to draft a law guaranteeing complete freedom of speech. According to Hess, freedom of speech should not be restricted to private events. Currently, remarks made in public places (such as a restaurant or bar) that instigate hatred against specific racial, ethnic or religious groups are forbidden by law and liable to legal action.

 

Far Right Parties and Groups

The extremist right-wing scene in Switzerland consists of many small, changeable, unstructured groups. While there is no common ideology among them, at major events such as winter solstice parties of the Avalon community (see below), representatives of all trends – from young skinheads to old racists – gather and celebrate. The number of right-wing extremists remained unchanged. Currently, there are about 1000–1200 militants and about 700–800 sympathizers in Switzerland. There are major regional differences in numbers: the more rural cantons (north, east and central Switzerland) have a higher proportion of right-wing extremists than the less rural ones. Skinheads are usually in the 15–35 year age range and live in the countryside or in small cities.

There are three main trends among right-wing extremists: the old right-wing consisting of Holocaust deniers, old-fascists and racists; skinheads; and the New Right (‘patriots’) (see ASW 2003/4). The Partei National Orientierter Schweiz (PNOS) and the NAPO (National Extra-parliamentary Opposition) have overtaken the National Initiative Switzerland (NIS) as the leading far right organizations. The PNOS was founded in late 2000 by Blood & Honour activists. Their party program is clearly right-wing extremist since many PNOS members are, or were, active skinheads; it also includes old Swiss Nazis, as well as members of Avalon and Verité & Justice (see below). The PNOS, with 100–130 members, began participating in cantonal and national elections in 2003 but has not been successful at the national level. On 24 October 2004 PNOS party member Tobias Hirschi was elected, with 415 votes (2.4 percent of the vote), to the city council of the small city of Langenthal (Aargau canton). PNOS propaganda stresses the non-violent nature of the party as part of its attempts to present itself as a respectable political force. PNOS head Jonas Gisin was given an eight-month suspended sentence for involvement in a brawl.

NAPO is a conglomeration of various far right groups. Each cell, consisting of 3–12 persons, operates independently of the others and is financially autonomous. NAPO activity focuses mainly on participation in political (mostly silent) marches in smaller cities. NAPO founder and representative Bernhard Schaub is a frequent speaker at national and international congresses on Holocaust denial and is in close contact with the German NPD; his movement networks with many other far right groups throughout Europe.

Swiss Hammerskins (SHS) are an offshoot of the US Hammerskins. The SHS were founded in 1990 and number about 50 active members and many sympathizers. Some skinhead events (parties, concerts, etc.) are organized by members of the SHS and some skinhead websites are controlled by them. They have close contact with extremist right-wing groups in Germany, France, Austria, Italy and Liechtenstein.

Blood & Honour Switzerland (B&H), founded in late 1998 as an arm of the trans-national Blood & Honour movement, spreads racist and extremely nationalist ideas. The number of members is unknown. B&H does not compete with SHS, and members of both groups attend the same concerts within and outside of Switzerland and exchange literature, as well as audio and visual electronic materials.

Morgenstern was launched in 1993 in Sempach/Lucerne. While membership numbers are unknown, there are an increasing number of sympathizers. Like SHS and B&H, they attend concerts and parties, have a website and exchange extremist literature. They have close contacts with the SHS and with fraternal organizations abroad.

In 1998 there was a resurge in the skinhead music scene. Concerts with 600–800 participants, many from Germany and other countries took place on an almost regular basis, mostly in the German part of Switzerland. When the police began to intervene in 1999, most events were moved to private clubs. Since according to the anti-racism article, only the dissemination of racist music is considered an offense in Switzerland and not its possession, the police find it hard to control these ‘private events’ as they are advertised only via private listings and direct e-mail.

Erwin Kessler, president of Verein gegen Tierfabrik (Association against Animal Factories – VgT), continues to publish antisemitic statements both in his magazine (VgT) and on the VgT homepage. In 2002 Kessler accused the Jewish lawyer Pascal Krauthammer of invasion of privacy after the latter wrote in his doctoral thesis, “The Prohibition of Shechitah in Switzerland, 1845–2000,” that Kessler was in regular contact with neo-Nazis. In October 2004 the legal process began at the high court of justice in Thurgau, but was postponed until March 2005.

Kessler has a link from his homepage to www.patriot.ch, an Internet platform that seeks “to inform like-minded people… about national patriotism rather than right-wing extremism.” The Patriot group counts about 1,500 members. Its “restricted to members only area” is xenophobic and often antisemitic.

Avalon, “the new heathen circle,” founded in 1990, regularly organizes mystical forest parties and history seminars with strongly ethnic programs. Avalon has close links to skinheads and to the PNOS as well as to likeminded individuals within and outside Switzerland. Ahmed Huber (see below) is a leading Avalon activist.

 

The Far Left

The left-wing extremist scene in Switzerland consists of a large number of inter-connected groups. Some of the neo-Marxist/Leninist oriented ones are involved in anarchist circles as well. In total, there are some 2,000 left-wing extremists; the many sympathizers of the Black Bloc (see below) and others (200–400 people) who participate in specific events are not included in this figure. In contrast to right-wing extremists who tend to operate in the countryside, leftist activity takes place in urban areas. Violence is aimed primarily at symbolic targets representing the establishment: diplomatic representatives of foreign countries, foreign companies, banks and airlines, international organizations, and since 2003, policemen and government officials. Every year (except in 2003) far leftists demonstrate (sometimes violently) against the World Economic Forum in Davos, either there or in Swiss cities.

Revolutionary Assembly Switzerland (RAS)/Revolutionary Assembly Zurich (RAZ), the leading, most violent far left organization, was founded in 1992. The organizational structure is unknown but the Red Army Faction (RAF) (see ASW 2000/1) was their role model until 1998. The RAS clearly supports terrorism and violence. While its 80 members are aged circa forty, sympathizers tend to be 20 years younger. RAS are anti-globalization, anti-fascist, anti-imperialist and anti-Israel. Their violent actions, mostly small planting explosives or throwing dye-filled bags, are directed at capitalist institutions and official structures (police, justice, banks and big companies) (see www.aufbau.org).

The Black Bloc (BB) is not an organization but a variable, heterogeneous action platform of left-wing extremist groups whose members disguise themselves and dress in black. The BB is considered a real threat to Swiss internal security because of its strong commitment to violence. A small group of some 850 activists control BB operations (circa 20 years old, mostly men, from all social backgrounds).

The Bern-based Antifa Switzerland, which fights fascism, racism and nationalism, is a loose network that operates in close cooperation with other radical left-wing, anti-fascist groups. They engage in research, intelligence gathering and demonstrations against youth clubs or bars visited by right-wing extremists, and participate in counter-demonstrations in response to right-wing extremist events. They post the information they gather on their website.

Because of the sometimes violent nature of the far left–far right conflict (with the left tending to greater violence than the right), the Swiss Department of Justice and Police considers left-wing extremists “a substantial danger to internal security.”

 

Islamist Fundamentalism

The main representatives of Islamist fundamentalism in Switzerland are Sunni organizations: En Nahdha, Front Islamique Tunisien (FIT), Muslim Brotherhood, Front Islamique du Salut (FIS), Groupe Islamique Armé (GIA), Groupe Salafiste pour la Prédication et le Combat (GSPC), Groupe Islamique Combattant Libyen (GICL), Hamas, Jihad, Hizballah, Al-Takfir wal Hijra and the Swiss PRO-PLO. The latter has been included as it seems that European converts have played an important role in Islamist radicalization and are suspected by the intelligence authorities of implication in the Djerba (2002) and Casablanca (2003) attacks. The goal of most of these organizations is propagation of Shari‘a law in their country of domicile, logistical support for their organization in the country of origin and fundraising. It should be noted that, officially, the Muslim population of Switzerland is over 310,000 (the unofficial number is estimated at 500,000).

In August 2004, a 31-year-old Algerian, Mohammed Achraf, was arrested ‘by chance’ for the misdemeanor of living in Switzerland since 2003 under a false name, and transferred to the Zurich airport prison. Spanish intelligence, which suspected that Achraf was the head of an Islamic terror cell that planned to blow up the Madrid National Court, knew of his arrest. On 19 October 2004 international press agencies reported suspicions surrounding Achraf and his detention. Although the Swiss authorities considered Achraf to be a ‘radical’, they seemed to be unaware of his terrorist intentions and activities, thus demonstrating an apparently low level of international networking and lack of information concerning security and terrorism issues. Furthermore, due to this failure a member of this terror cell in Switzerland – the bomb builder Samir – disappeared after the authorities ceased observing his movements.

According to US and Swiss newspapers, two charity organizations in Switzerland, Comité de bienfaisance et de Solidarité avec la Palestine and Association de Secours Palestinien are suspected by the US of being front organizations for, or of being in close contact, with the terror organization Hamas.

The Swiss PRO-PLO purports to “support the Muslims during their uprising against racist-Zionist colonization” and to pursue a national rather than an Islamic solution. Patric Illi, president of PRO-PLO, had close links to Shaykh Ahmad Yasin before his assassination in March 2004. The group engages in fundraising for the Palestinians and calls for a boycott of “Zionist products.” In April 2004 the PRO-PLO held a pro-Palestinian/anti-Zionist demonstration in Zurich, with about 200 participants, at which they burned a large Israeli flag. In autumn 2004 the content of the PRO-PLO website was deleted and readers were automatically redirected to a different site, www.boykott-israel.com.

Retired Swiss journalist Ahmed Huber (formerly, Albert Friedrich Armand Huber), who converted to Islam over 40 years ago, is an activist of the Avalon organization and co-founder of the NIS. As such, he liaises between Islamist and far right organizations. A strident antisemite and Holocaust denier, Huber traveled the world speaking out on behalf of the Iranian regime in the 1980s. For many years he had strong links to Jürgen Graf (see below). When it became public that Huber was a member of the directorate of Al Taqwa Management Company, registered in Lugano, Tessin, which is suspected of involvement in bin Ladin’s terror network, he was put on the US list of top suspects. Although the Swiss authorities have no evidence of Huber having direct links with al-Qa‘ida, he himself told the press that he had contacts with individual al-Qa‘ida operatives. He expressed his satisfaction that “right-wing extremists understand that the Holocaust was a lie” and suggested that European neo-Nazis join Islamist organizations to fight the Jews and the US.

 

AntiSemitic and Racist activities

The situation in Switzerland remained relatively unchanged in 2004. While violent antisemitic attacks were of a sporadic nature, an underlying antisemitism, characterized by the persistence of preconceived images and ideas concerning the Jewish population, exists in Switzerland, as illustrated by the August 2004 report of the Swiss government which referred to Jewish student associations as extremist groups, and the antisemitic response to it (see below).

 

Violence, Vandalism, Harassment and Insults

In September 2004, an office for monitoring antisemitic incidents was set up in the German-speaking part of Switzerland by AKdH & SIG. Not all of the incidents recorded necessarily violate Art. 261bis of the Swiss Penal Code. The office has not been running long enough to provide reliable statistical data. In the French speaking part, the CICAD has been collecting information on antisemitic incidents since October 2003. In 2004 it recorded 20 incidents which it divided into ‘severe acts’ (harassment, aggression, break-ins – 5 acts), ‘serious acts’ (defamation, threatening letters, targeted graffiti – 6 acts) and ‘disturbing acts’ (untargeted graffiti – 9 acts). In the ‘severe acts’ category, an identifiably Jewish person was spat on and insulted in a Basle street in September. The perpetrator made the Hitler salute and yelled “Die, Jew!” (Jude verrecke!). The victim got away and a witness made a report to the police which helped to identify the perpetrator. In February vandals broke into the Gan Shlomo kindergarten and the Maccabi community rooms in Geneva. They damaged property and left graffiti on the walls, saying, inter alia, “Fuck les juifs.” In October, a brawl erupted in front of the Israeli community center in Lausanne. The incident, which occurred after a football match between Israel and Switzerland, was provoked by youths who attacked the Jews verbally and then physically, with fists, kicks and glass bottles. The Jewish youngsters escaped with cuts and bruises.

 

Anti-Israel/Antisemitic Propaganda and the Middle East Conflict

The Swiss media tend to simplify the Middle East conflict, assigning roles of victims and perpetrators, or reporting unilaterally. In general, coverage concerning Israel is rather negative. Certain journalists have compared Israeli policies to those of Nazi Germany. Sometimes letters to the editor and discussion forums contain virulent antisemitic statements.

Articles delegitimizing Israel and equating it with Nazi Germany, as well as accusing the Jews of trying to gain political power globally and to manipulate US policy, continued to appear in mainstream papers. In an article entitled “Europe Accused of Antisemitism” in the Tribune de Genève (Geneva’s main newspaper; 22 Jan. 2004), Antoine Maurice asked “whether this [Israeli government] policy does not in some ways recall that of Nazi Germany. This [policy] massacred the Jews, denied the existence of a people and a community, progressively but implacably destroyed their rights, [and] oppressed this people with a mixture of quibbling legalism and breathtaking arbitrariness [sic].”

In “Friendly’ Country,” Vincent Pellegrini wrote in Le Nouvelliste (main newspaper of Valais canton; 16 Jan. 2004): “The Bush government, at the command of its country’s Jewish lobbies for its Middle East policies and influenced by American fundamentalist Protestants who believe in the notion of a Greater Israel, supports de facto the policies of the Jewish state, as Colin Powell demonstrated last week.” The secretary general of CICAD met with Jean Bonnard, chief editor of Le Nouvelliste, to discuss the content of the article.

A reader’s letter from Wolfgang Guerraty and entitled “But What Are They Plotting against Us?” published in Le Nouvelliste (28 May 2004), shocked the Jewish community. It came after the announcement of the signing of an agreement of cooperation between the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities and the Platform for Liberal Jewish Communities in Switzerland. “As no official political party may be characterized as either Jewish or Israeli,” it read, “the objective of reinforcing the political representation envisaged by the agreement in question can only be achieved by infiltration.”

Delegitimation of Israel and its right to exist as a Jewish state were discussed during a series of conferences (beginning in April 2003), organized by the IUED (Institut Universitaire d’Etude du Développement, University of Geneva) and the human rights organization CETIM (Centre Europe Tiers Monde). The latter is a virulently anti-Israel body which, inter alia, demands a boycott of Israeli products. The majority of the speakers are known for their involvement in the campaign to delegitimize the State of Israel. The conference focused on religious and ideological affinities between the State of Israel and apartheid era South Africa.

The Federation for Peace in Palestine/Israel organized a conference at the University of Lausanne from 23 to 25 June 2004, entitled “A Single Democratic State in Palestine/Israel,” aimed at “promoting reconciliation and peace in Palestine/Israel on the basis of a single democratic state with equal rights for all inhabitants regardless of their sex or religion, and the right of return for Palestinian refugees.” The Lausanne Initiative, launched during the press conference to further the conference aim, is headed by Sami Aldeeb, a Palestinian Christian holding Swiss nationality. A number of well-known figures in antisemitic and anti-Zionist circles, such as the Israeli anti-Zionist Israel Shamir, Jean Brière and Ginette Skandrani (see ASW 2001/2), are on the committee of the association. The CICAD informed leading politicians of Vaud Canton, as well as the principal of the University of Lausanne, about the participation of antisemites and extremists at the conference.

 

Report on Extremism

A report of the Federal Department of Justice and Police on extremism in Switzerland, published in August 2004, spoke of “religiously motivated extremism,” including “Jewish political extremism,” noting in particular the Association des étudiants israélites de Genève (ADEIG), some of whose members supposedly carry arms because they secure Jewish events and sites. The Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities immediately wrote to the federal councilor in charge of the department, Christoph Blocher, demanding correction of the unacceptable parts and a meeting with him. The report was subsequently amended, although the phrase “possible self-defense in case of an attack” was left. The report generated an antisemitic response, including hate letters and insulting e-mails to the SIG, as well as antisemitic discussions in Internet forums/chat rooms, etc.

 

Holocaust Denial

Despite the 2002 court order disbanding Verité et Justice (V&J) (see ASW 2001/2), and confirmation of that order in July 2003, the organization, founded in 1999 by Jürgen Graf, continued to hold meetings, arrange national and international events and publish antisemitic and Holocaust denying materials. In January 2004 V&J flyers were distributed in letter boxes in Geneva and Lausanne. Next to the skull heading the paper, the text said: “L’Holocauste c’est du bidon” (The holocaust is a lie). According to a communiqué sent in May 2004, V&J secretary-general René-Louis Berclaz has taken refuge in Montenegro (former Yugoslavia) (see ASW 2003/4).

 

Responses to racism and antisemitism

The Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities has stepped up its efforts to combat anti-Israel/antisemitic propaganda via the Media Watch forum; close collaboration with the CICAD, Database AKdH, Internet-Streetworking, the reporting office for antisemitic incidents, and Likrat (an organization which sends Jewish teenagers to Swiss high schools to explain issues of Jewish concern); meetings with government representatives and opinion leaders of political parties; and letters to the editor.

After the sale of antisemitic books in Arabic was discovered in a bookstore in Geneva, a complaint was filed by an individual and CICAD gathered information for the attorney general of Geneva.

A proposal, submitted in 2003, by the Swiss Association for Animal Protection (STS) and which included protection against ritual slaughter and a prohibition on the import of kosher meat, was rejected by the Council of States (Senate) in October 2004. It was due to be discussed by the National Council in June 2005.

A verdict was reached in December 2004 in the law suit against Frank Lübke (general secretary of DAVID) over an open letter he wrote with 140 co-signers following the November 2002 attacks in Mombassa, Kenya (see ASW 2003/4). A Zurich district court found Lübke and the co-signers had not violated the anti-racism article.

The suspicion of financial irregularities in the Geneva office of the World Jewish Congress in November 2004 led to confusion and discussions within the Swiss Jewish community and aroused antisemitic feeling and the reinforcement of prejudices against Jews among the Swiss population. The affair also led to intensive discussions and reports in the Swiss media.