SWITZERLAND 2008/9

 

Data collected from both the French and German-speaking parts of Switzerland showed an increase in antisemitic activity in 2008/9 compared to 2007. The rise was related to the tense political atmosphere both in the Middle East and in Switzerland in two periods during the year: in April 2008 in reaction to severe Jewish criticism of the visit of the Swiss foreign minister to Tehran, and at the end of the year/beginning of 2009, coinciding with Israel’s war in Gaza. Most of the manifestations reported were antisemitic graffiti on or near Jewish facilities and abusive texts in printed and electronic materials, but there were also a few violent incidents.

 

The Jewish community

Jewish community numbers remained stable at about 18,000, or 0.25 percent of Switzerland's population of 7.3 million. All major cities in Switzerland have a Jewish community, the largest being located in Zurich, Geneva, Basel and Lausanne. Seventeen communities throughout Switzerland are members of the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (SIG/FSCI). CICAD (Coordination Intercommunautaire Contre l'Antisémitisme et la Diffamation), based in Geneva, is the coordination center for monitoring antisemitism and rendering assistance to victims in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Switzerland's two liberal communities cooperate with the SIG on political and antisemitism-related matters.

As a result of reorganization, at the end of August 2008, the SIG’s monitoring methods were revamped. However, the overall assessment for 2008 is not affected. In the future, the SIG will also include the findings of the GRA Foundation against Racism and Antisemitism, which monitors racist incidents in general.

There are Jewish day schools in Zurich, Geneva, Basel and Lausanne and five newspapers: Tachles and Jüdische Zeitung (in German) and Revue Juive, Hayom and Shalom (in French).

 

political parties and organizations

The right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP/UDC) is the major political party in Switzerland. More than 25 percent of the population voted for this party in the 2007 elections. It continued its attempts to abolish the clause in Swiss criminal law that prohibits racist acts and denial of genocide in public on the grounds that it unduly restricts freedom of expression. Many of its initiatives were rejected in 2008 either by the government or by parliamentary commissions. Some were still pending. The party tried to collect signatures for a petition demanding abolition of the provision, but failed to get the required number. Furthermore, the party launched or supported anti-foreigner initiatives, such as a campaign banning the erection of minarets, since they supposedly symbolize ideological opposition to the country’s constitution. The Swiss people will be asked to vote on this subject in November 2009.

            The small, extreme right-wing Party for Nationally Oriented Swiss People (PNOS), which has no significant political influence, continued to pursue their explicitly xenophobic and anti-Jewish agenda.

            Members of the Palestinian Solidarity Organisation, which has close ties with extreme left parties in Switzerland and which, on occasions is supported by socialist and/or ecological parties (such as the Swiss Party of Labour and the Green Party), continued their struggle against Israel, questioning its right to exist and justifying the declarations of Hamas leaders and of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

 

Antisemitic and racist activity

Data collected from both the French and German-speaking parts of Switzerland showed an increase in antisemitic activity in 2008 compared to 2007. The rise was related to the tense political atmosphere both in the Middle East and in Switzerland in two periods during the year:

• in April 2008 in reaction to severe Jewish criticism of the visit of Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey to Tehran. The visit was condemned by the US and Israel, by national and international Jewish organizations and, even by parts of the Swiss population and by some political parties (such as the Swiss People’s Party);
• and in late 2008/beginning of 2009, coinciding with Israel’s war in Gaza.

Ninety-six incidents were recorded in the French-speaking part in 2008, compared to 38 in 2007 and 67 in 2006. Similar tendencies were registered in the German-speaking part. (The SIG did not publish figures for the reasons stated above.)

Most of the manifestations reported were antisemitic graffiti on or near Jewish facilities and anti-Jewish texts in printed and electronic materials. However, there were also a few violent incidents. In February, for example, a recognizably Jewish man was threatened on a Zurich street with a knife while the attackers shouted “Jew” before running away without actually harming him. In addition, during a football game of Jewish juniors on November 2, in Zurich, the supporters of the other team, mostly immigrants, beat up and injured the coach, who they believed to be Jewish.

Verbal insults were a frequent complaint in both the German- and French-speaking parts. In Geneva, during a flee market organized in January 2008 by Jewish associations, a woman who saw menorahs offered for sale said: “Those are Jewish things; the Jews have all the money and rule the world.” Jewish pupils suffered verbal antisemitic abuse by youngsters of undefined origin at school or on their way to school in several cities and towns. A group of youths in their mid-teens blocked the way of a skull-capped Jew on his way home on Friday eve. Another incident occurred at a Jewish summer camp in the mountains where a group of young people, knocked at the door of one of the chalets, saw the Shabbat candles, asked whether they were Jews and shouted that they would “break” the Jews.

Between October and December 2008, several Jewish leaders and organizations in the French-speaking part received three issues of a leaflet with virulently antisemitic content, such as claims that the Jews were criminal types, that they were mad and sexually deviant, and that they had planned the Bolshevik Revolution, and calling for the destruction of Israel. The authors of the publication were not identified.

Antisemitic graffiti and posters were reported in various cities throughout 2008 and early 2009. For example:

Figure 1:

 

Graffiti with the slogan “Death to the Jews,” sprayed at the entrance of the Jewish community building in Zurich on April 12, 2008.

 

Figure 2:

Placard with the slogan “Swiss defend yourself! Don’t buy from Jews,” posted on the door of a Jewish store in Basle on November 10, 2008.

 

A steep increase in antisemitic postings on the Internet was observed in 2008, including on electronic forums of mainstream newspapers. Responding to events in the Middle East, many participants made comparisons with the Holocaust or questioned it and denied Israel’s right to exist. This tendency increased in December 2008−January/February 2009.

In January 2009, the entrance to a Jewish synagogue in Zurich and the window of a Kollel in Geneva, as well as the El Al offices in Zurich, were damaged. Also during the war in Gaza graffiti equating the Star of David with the swastika was reported in major cities across Switzerland. Jewish organizations and individuals received dozens of hate letters.

Also in January 2009, there were antisemitic reactions in connection with the attitude of the Catholic Church toward the reintegration of, among others, Bishop Richard Williamson. In several internet publications (such as blogs of several newspapers and TV stations), writers made parallels with the Gaza events questioning, for example, why the pope should react against Williamson’s antisemitic statements when rabbis had not spoken out against Israel’s behavior in Gaza. .

 

Responses to Racism and Antisemitism

For the first time, Switzerland made a submission in 2008 to the Universal Periodic Review of the UN Human Rights Council. It accepted 20 out of the 31 recommendations. A few months later, it was subject to a review by the CERD (Convention for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination) Commission. In neither case was antisemitism identified as a major concern, nor was Switzerland asked to take any specific measures to combat antisemitism.