Switzerland: Synagogue in Basel vandalized

Via JTA:

A Chabad Lubavitch synagogue in Basel, Switzerland was vandalized.

A window of the synagogue was smashed in with a hammer, the BZ Basel news website reported.

The damage was discovered on Saturday morning as worshippers gathered for the Shabbat morning service.

“I’ve been living in Basel for 16 years. It’s the first time that I have been worried about myself and my family,” Rabbi Zalmen Wishedski of Chabad Lubavitch told BZ Basel.

There currently are no suspects in the incident, the Basel public prosecutor’s office told the news website.

The incident comes after a kosher butcher shop in Basel was vandalized four times in one month in what local Jews have condemned as an anti-Semitic campaign of intimidation.

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Swiss Holocaust denier Gaston Amaudruz died aged 97

Via Wikipedia:

Gaston-Armand "Guy" Amaudruz (21 December 1920 – 7 September 2018) was a Swiss neo-fascist political philosopher and Holocaust denier.

Initially a supporter of the Swiss fascist movement of Arthur Fonjallaz, he came to wider attention in 1949 when he published Ubu Justicier au Premier Procès de Nuremberg, one of the first works to question the veracity of the Holocaust.  Increasingly active in neo-fascism, he organized conferences in Malmö in 1951 which led to the formation of a pan-European nationalist group known as the European Social Movement and then led the more radical splinter group known as the New European Order later that year. This group sought the creation of a new Rome–Berlin axis to unite Europe against capitalism and communism and in January 1953 set up a European Liaison Office under Amaudruz in Lausanne to co-ordinate the work of affiliated groups. He also came an early member of the Volkspartei der Schweiz but left the party over the issue of South Tyrol (where he was opposed to irredentism). […]  

In 2000 Amaudruz was sentenced to a year in a Swiss jail for Holocaust denial and returned to prison in 2003 on similar charges. However, as of 2005 he was continuing to publish a far right journal, Courrier du continent. 

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Switzerland: Knife-wielding man attacks Jewish family in Zurich

Via Arutz Sheva:

An Orthodox Jewish family was attacked by a man carrying a knife in Zurich, Switzerland over the weekend, local news outlets have reported.  

According to a report by the Zurich-based Blick newspaper, the incident occurred Saturday evening in Zurich’s 3rd district, when a man carrying a knife lunged at an Orthodox Jewish family. When his would-be victims fled, the attacker chased after them, hurling anti-Semitic curses as he pursued them.

The attacker was later arrested and transferred for questioning, Zurich police said.

A report by LOOK claimed that the incident began in a playground, when the attacker began staring at a group of children.

When the children’s father, approached the man and asked if he needed any help, the “guy reacted very aggressively and stood up in front of me,” the father said.

“I didn’t want any trouble, so I took my kids and left.”

The Jewish man and his family returned home, believing that was the end of the matter.

When they stepped out half an hour later, however, to go to synagogue, the man was waiting for them, carrying a knife.

The family attempted to quickly walk away from the man carrying the knife, but the attacker “suddenly started sprinting towards us,” the father said.

A passerby, who is also a member of the local Jewish community, later managed to subdue the attacker until police came.

The assailant has been identified as a “local man”, who police say is neither a radical Muslim nor a known member of any neo-Nazi movement.

Police held the suspect overnight, but freed him on Sunday.

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Switzerland: Neo-Nazi convicted of antisemitic assault on Orthodox Jew

Via Jerusalem Post:

A 30-year-old Swiss neo-Nazi who in 2015 assaulted an Orthodox Jew in Zurich was on Tuesday sentenced to 24 months in prison.

In July 2015, the unnamed man performed a Nazi salute, spat on and verbally assaulted a Jewish man. The assault took place during in the middle of the day during Shabbat in Wiedikon, the Jewish quarter of Zurich.

In addition to his sentence, the court also fined the man 1000 francs, roughly $1058, and ordered him to pay 3000 francs ($3175) to the victim.

He had been previously sentenced to 30 months in prison in 2013 for a different assault. He served only 12 months of the original sentence. An amendment in the canton's penal code revoked the prior sentence because of the latest court proceeding. 

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Switzerland: Government neglects security of country’s Jews

Via The Algemeiner (Manfred Gerstenfeld):

After the recent terrorist murders of Jews in France, Belgium and Denmark, other Western European governments are beginning to understand that it is their legal and moral duty to protect the institutions of their Jewish minority.

Yet on this issue, Switzerland lags far behind other countries. This is particularly worrying in light of the deadly shooting in 2001 in a Zurich street, where an Israeli rabbi (recognizable as a Jew by his clothing) was murdered. The case has never been solved.

Switzerland has a population of 8.4 million; less than 18,000 are Jews. (...)

At the end of 2016, for example, it was scandalously suggested that Jews should create a fund with their own money in order to take care of their security. Some funds have been made available for one Jewish community in Zurich by the canton though these are not destined for security. For the other communities and synagogues in the town, no funds are provided.

The situation is particularly problematic in the third largest — and 212 year old — Jewish community of Basel, which faces a huge deficit and ultimately perhaps bankruptcy. It currently has the choice between reducing activities or having less security. First the government of the canton — and then the parliament (Grosser Rat) — voted down subsidizing security measures. The parliament has also refused to increase financing of the police force, despite the general terror threat in Europe and Switzerland.

But after the lethal Christmas market attack by a Muslim terrorist in Berlin in December 2016, measures were taken in Switzerland last year to protect Christmas markets. A heavily armed police presence was introduced, and several Christmas markets were fortified. Funding for these security measures was provided by the state.

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Italy: Secret Arafat diaries confirm non-aggression pact between Italy and Palestinians

Via i24News:

Excerpts of secret diaries reportedly kept by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat published Sunday reveal a secret deal with Italy protecting it from attacks by Palestinian terrorists in exchange for freedom of movement in the country for Palestinian terror factions.

Excerpts of a 19-volume diary published by the Italian L’Expresso magazine confirmed the long-rumored non-aggression pact between Italy and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), headed for decades by Arafat.

“Italy is a Palestinian shore of the Mediterranean,” Arafat writes in one excerpt of the diaries, which were recently sold to a French foundation for studying.

In one of the most dramatic realizations of the agreement, authorities in Rome refused a US extradition request for the mastermind of the deadly 1985 hijacking of the Italian ship Achille Lauro, in which a wheelchair bound Jewish-American man was murdered, allowing the terrorists to escape Italy to Yugoslavia.

The deal between Rome and the Palestinians had been previously revealed in 2008 by former Italian president Francesco Cossiga, who wrote at the time that it was struck by former prime minister Aldo Mora.

Other reports have suggested the agreement dates back to 1973, when Giulio Andreotti who served as foreign minister at the time of the Achille Lauro standoff, was prime minister.

The PLO is said to have struck a similar deal with Switzerland during the 1970s, giving them free rein to move around the country provided they discontinue attacks on Swiss targets.

In the excerpts of the diaries published by L’Expresso, Arafat also reveals lying to Italian prosecutors in 1998 about receiving some 10 million lira (NIS 21.5 million) in aid money that actually went to the Italian Socialist Party in order to help former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi avoid fraud charges.

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Denmark cuts funding and is reviewing all funding of PA NGOs

Via Palestinian Media Watch (Itamar Marcus and Maurice Hirsch):

• Denmark announced this week that it cut funding and is reviewing all funding of NGOs, in response to PMW exposing that money it provided was used to build a community center that Palestinians named for a mass murderer 

• Other countries cutting or freezing funding this year following PMW reports: Norway, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland
   
• PMW is changing European attitudes one country at a time 

On May 26, 2017 PMW reported that funds provided by Norway, the UN and a conglomerate of countries including Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland had been used to build a center for young women that was subsequently named after terrorist murderer Dalal Mughrabi. Mughrabi led a terror attack that resulted in the murder of 37 Israelis, including 12 children, in 1978.

Denmark
Last week, Denmark decided to cancel some grants and review further funding of Palestinian NGOs. The decision was made following an investigation initiated after PMW's report that the women’s center funded by Denmark, was named after a Palestinian terrorist murderer. Denmark announced that it will also tighten the conditions for providing funding to all Palestinian NGOs and that the majority of the aid, suspended after PMW’s report, will not be paid.

“Denmark will tighten the conditions for providing money to Palestinian NGOs, Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen said... The review followed revelations [by Palestinian Media Watch] in May that a women’s center partly funded with European aid money... was named after Dalal Mughrabi, who took part in the Coastal Road massacre in 1978 that killed 37 people... Samuelsen also said that the 'majority of aid' suspended from the summer while the review was under way will not be paid.” 

[The Jerusalem Post, Dec. 24, 2017]

Norway

When PMW released its report documenting the center named for terrorist Mughrabi, Norway immediately demanded that the Norwegian money be returned:

Norwegian Foreign Minister Børge Brende: 

"The glorification of terrorist attacks is completely unacceptable, and I deplore this decision in the strongest possible terms. Norway will not allow itself to be associated with institutions that take the names of terrorists in this way... We have asked for the logo of the Norwegian representation office to be removed from the building immediately, and for the funding that has been allocated to the centre to be repaid."

[Norwegian Foreign Ministry website, May 26, 2017]

Belgium
When PMW reported that a Palestinian school built with Belgium funds, was also named after terrorist murderer Dalal Mughrabi, Belgium condemned it and froze the construction of ten additional Palestinian Authority schools.

Belgian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Didier Vanderhasselt:

“Belgium unequivocally condemns the glorification of terrorist attacks [and] will not allow itself to be associated with the names of terrorists... Belgium has immediately raised this issue with the Palestinian Authority and is awaiting a formal response... In the meantime Belgium will put on hold any projects related to the construction or equipment of Palestinian schools.”

[The Algemeiner, Oct. 7, 2017]

Additional Countries

Germany,  Switzerland, Sweden and the Netherlands also cut off funding to one or more Palestinian projects following PMW reports on the ways in which Palestinians are using donor funding to glorify terror.

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Switzerland: Israel bans Swiss diplomats from visiting Gaza over Hamas meetings

Via The Jerusalem Post:

Israeli authorities announced on Thursday that Swiss diplomats will not be allowed to access the Gaza Strip because of their ongoing contacts with the EU and US-classified terrorist group Hamas.

Switzerland, a non-EU country, does not recognize Hamas or Hezbollah as terrorist organizations. Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon told The Jerusalem Post on Saturday that Israel declines to comment on the ban.

A photograph of Hamas leader Yayha Sinwar and Swiss diplomat and representative for the Palestinian Authority, Julien Thöni, at a joint Tuesday meeting sparked irritation from Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, according to a report in the Swiss daily Basler Zeitung.

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France: Supporters of Swiss Islamist call sexual harassment claims a ‘Zionist plot’

Via JTA:

Three women said this month they were sexually assaulted by Tariq Ramadan, a Swiss Islamist with ties to terror organizations and who is accused of justifying Palestinian terrorism and promoting conspiracy theories about Jews.

His supporters were calling the accusations the result of a “international Zionist plot” to blacken his name.

The third and newest complainant, a woman identified only as Yasmina in the French media, told Le Parisien that Ramadan, a professor of contemporary Islamic studies at Oxford’s St. Anthony’s College, sexually harassed her in 2014 and blackmailed her for sexual favors, the weekly reported Saturday. She said Ramadan threatened to distribute “compromising pictures” of her.

Ramadan has denied any wrongdoing.  (...)

Following Ayari’s decision to step forward, journalist Caroline Fourest, who has reported extensively about Ramadan’s controversial career, on Friday wrote in the Marianne weekly that supporters of Ramadan are calling the accusations the result of a “international Zionist plot” to tarnish his reputation. 

Ramadan, who in 2009 was fired from Rotterdam’s Erasmus University for taking money from the Iranian regime and who has been refused entry to France and the United States over his ties to Hamas and other terrorist groups, has often aired conspiracy theories about Israel and the Jews. (...)

In 2014 he said that the slaying of four people at the Jewish Museum of Belgium, which authorities say was perpetrated by the Islamist Mehdi Nemmouche, was in fact a deliberate attack on Israeli secret agents.

And in a 2004 interview, Ramadan said that violence for the Palestinians is “a legitimate resistance,” and “the only way for them to be heard at the international level.” In the same interview, he also said he does not justify the use of violence against Israelis.

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Swiss MP: ‘Jews had a better chance of survival at Auschwitz than pigs in farms'

Via The Jerusalem Post (Benjamin Weinthal):

Fricker’s alleged belittling of the Holocaust triggered outrage in Switzerland, causing him to resign on Saturday. 

Swiss Green Party MP Jonas Fricker said during a debate over animal protections in the National Council legislative body on Thursday that Jews deported to the Auschwitz extermination camp had a better chance of surviving than pigs sent to industrial livestock farming.

Fricker’s alleged belittling of the Holocaust triggered outrage in Switzerland, causing him to resign on Saturday.

He said on Thursday that “the people who were deported there [Nazi extermination camps] had a chance to survive. The pigs go to a certain death.”

“You know the photographs, the documentary films from Europe that show the unspeakable industry livestock farming – they are transported to a certain death,” Fricker continued, adding that the last time he recalled seeing a documentary about the transport of pigs, photographs of the mass deportation from Schindler’s List came to mind.

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Switzerland: More Swiss Jews now live in Israel than in Switzerland

Via BZ Basel (Annika Bangerter):

When the plane from Basel flies over the rolling fields heading to the Ben Gurion airport, emigrants from Basel will not be looking at the Tel Aviv skyline for the first time. They know the city and Israel from previous visits to relatives and from the long summer holidays.  The blazing heat, the bustling sea, the narrow streets: all this is familiar to them when they move from Basel to the Promised Land. 

It is becoming increasingly common. In 2010, around 15,000 Swiss men and women were living in Israel.  Last year there were 19,000 Swiss living in Israel. Today, Israel counts more inhabitants with a red Swiss passport than Jews living in Switzerland. 

Nearly 18,000 Jews live in Switzerland. What makes the Swiss of the Jewish faith go to the Promised Land? What do they expect from their lives? And the fulfillment of their aspirations? That is what «Schweiz am Wochenende» wanted to find out, exactly 120 years after the Basel Zionist Congress - one of the most important milestones in the history of the Jewish state.

read the article in German

Switzerland: Parliament to vote on whether to BAN halal and kosher meat

Via Daily Mail:

The Swiss Parliament is to vote on whether to ban the import of kosher and halal meat in the country amid criticism from Jewish leaders.

The piece of legislation was introduced in June and would make it illegal to bring any meat into the country which was slaughtered in a manner deemed to be inhumane if agreed.

It would include both halal and kosher meat because the animal is conscious when they are slaughtered.

(...)

Despite the religious element to the vote, with Muslims eating halal and Jews eating kosher meats, the main point of contention appears to be the effect it would have on Swiss cuisine.

According to the Tages Anzeiger newspaper, the strongest opposition to the bill has come from those against it effectively banning foie gras and goose liver pâté, which is popular in Switzerland.

No date has been set for the vote.

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Switzerland stops funds to Palestinian NGO due to terrorism connection

Via The Jerusalem Post (Benjamin Weinthal):

The Swiss Foreign Ministry announced that it suspended funds and support for the Ramallah-based Palestinian NGO Human Rights International Humanitarian Law Secretariat because the organization failed to cut ties to terrorism, according to a Sunday report in the Swiss newspaper Sonntags Zeitung. 

“This is an important first step in NGO funding accountability by the Swiss Foreign Ministry, and reflects the recent legislation on this issue,” Prof. Gerald Steinberg, the president of the Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor, told The Jerusalem Post on Monday. “In halting payment to WATC [Women Affairs Technical Committee], the Swiss follow similar moves by Denmark and Holland. 

The radical Palestinian NGO is one of many funded by these countries through the Ramallah-based Human Rights Secretariat, with an annual budget of $4 million,” he added. He asserted that “a number of the recipients are affiliated with the PFLP terror organization.

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Switzerland: Lawmaker raps Israel for tolerating haredim

Via Times of Israel:

Commenting on a public outcry over signs that urged Jews at a Swiss hotel to shower before entering the pool, a state lawmaker from Geneva said “Israel should apologize for its excessive tolerance of ultra-Orthodox Jews who prevent peace in Palestine.”

Roger Deneys, a Socialist representative at the Grand Council of Geneva, made the assertion Wednesday on Facebook.

Deneys deleted his comment shortly after posting it and apologized for having written “nonsense,” the online edition of the Swiss Le Matin daily reported Thursday.

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Switzerland: Antisemitic banners found on several road bridges ("Kill the Jews")

Via Watch Antisemitism in Europe:

Unknown perpetrators displayed several slogans at the railing of a bridge over a intensively used high way. These banners showed a swastika and the German words "Juden töten". This words can be understood as either "Kill Jews" oder "Jews are murdering" - but we suggest that the first translation might be the accurate one. Read more (in German).

Another one, near Reichenburg, reads "I love Hitler".

Switzerland: Intl Red Cross is facilitating salary payments to Palestinian terrorists

Via PMW (by Itamar Marcus and Maurice Hirsch, Adv.):

The Palestinian Authority is abusing the good will of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to pay salaries to Palestinian Authority terrorists in Israeli prisons. Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) has written to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informing him of this abuse, and suggested a means to rectify the situation. Following is a special report on the subject.

Introduction

According to Palestinian Authority law, all Palestinians arrested for security offenses, which includes those who committed terror attacks, receive a PA salary from the date of arrest until the day of release. These salaries increase according to the amount of time the terrorist remains in prison and range from 1,400 shekels to 12,000 shekels per month. 
While the PA claims to foreign governments that these payments are "social welfare benefits" and not salaries, PMW has shown that this is false. (See appendix below) 

The ICRC supplies the forms that enable the payments to terrorists 

The PA Regulation 18 (2010), which established procedures for the PA payments to terrorist prisoners, states that a "wakil" - an "authorized agent" or "power of attorney" - will be appointed by the prisoner to determine who receives his salary. The regulation gives the prisoner the right to designate people other than his wife or parents. Appointment of an "agent" can be authorized only by the prisoner's signature on a special form. It is the ICRC that visits the prisoners and brings the form for the prisoners to sign. (...) 

Accordingly, the ICRC by supplying this form is facilitating salary payments to terrorists, something that is not part of the humanitarian work of the ICRC.  

Based on the above findings, the Director of PMW's Legal Department notified the ICRC and asked for their response.  

The ICRC in its response differentiated between two types of prisoners, "internees" and "detainees." "Detainees" includes those arrested, indicted or convicted of terrorism (see articles 66, 69 and 76 of Fourth Geneva Convention - GCIV), which includes the imprisoned Palestinian terrorists. In its response to PMW, about the "detainees" the ICRC referred to article 10 of GCIV which provides:

"The provisions of the present Convention constitute no obstacle to the humanitarian activities which the International Committee of the Red Cross or any other impartial humanitarian organization may, subject to the consent of the Parties to the conflict concerned, undertake for the protection of civilian persons and for their relief."  (Emphasis added)

Since facilitating the payments of salaries to terrorists is not something the ICRC is compelled by GCIV to provide, and is certainly not part of the humanitarian work of the ICRC, all services to "detainees" requires the "consent of the Parties." This means that the ICRC cannot facilitate these payments to terrorists without the consent of the Israeli government. 

While it is unclear whether the ICRC knew, prior to PMW's query, that the PA is using the form it provides as a means to pay the terrorist salaries, the ICRC's response to PMW's inquiry stated that the organization provides the function as a "humanitarian" activity. (...) 

Appendix
The PA salaries to imprisoned terrorists is not humanitarian or social welfare for families but is in fact a salary to the terrorist prisoner himself 

PA payments to terrorists are not social welfare for the families but are salaries to the terrorists themselves. The PA law itself uses the term "salary" [See: Palestinian Authority Government resolution # 23 of 2010 and Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 15, 2011]; an attempt by some PA members to change the language of the law from "salary" to "social assistance" was blocked and the law remained unchanged [See: Minister of Prisoners' Affairs Issa Karake - WAFA news agency, Dec. 27, 2012 and Chairman of the Prisoners' Club Qadura Fares - Al-Quds Internet edition, Dec. 27, 2012]; the payment is paid based on "time served" by the terrorist and irrespective of financial needs of the family of the terrorist [See: Al-Quds, Jan. 3, 2010, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 15, 2011] and is subject to income tax [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 19, 2011]. Single prisoners receive the same basic high salaries as those married with children. While social welfare benefits are universally calculated as a portion of the minimum or average salary, the salaries paid to the terrorists are quite clearly not social welfare benefits, as they are based on the number of years a prisoner has served time in jail.

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France/Switzerland: Academic makes up non-existent ‘Gaza invasions’

Via Honest Reporting:

All of the academic qualifications in the world aren’t enough to prevent the publication of abysmal articles. 

Such is the case of Dr. Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou, a former minister of Foreign Affairs for Mauritania, a former postdoc researcher at Harvard University, a lecturer at SciencesPo, Paris, and a Professor of International History at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. 

His curriculum vitae is certainly pretty impressive. 

Despite this however, Mohamedou makes up complete falsehoods in an article published in the Swiss daily newspaper Le Temps’s blog section “Les temps du Moyen-Orient” (The Times of the Middle East). 

In his articled titled “State of stasis in Palestine”, Mohamedou tries to explain why the Israeli-Palestinian conflict still has not been solved and writes the following sentence:

[Highlighted text translated as: “or the invasions of Gaza (evacuated in 2005 but still besieged) by the Israeli army in 2008, 2011, 2012 and 2014 will not change the deal and the structural nature of this deadlock.”] 

We learn that Israel “invaded” the Gaza Strip four times in the last 10 years.Surprising news, given that the IDF only entered Gaza during Operations Cast Lead & Protective Edge in 2008-2009 and 2014 respectively. (...)

It is also interesting to note that the article fails to mention Palestinian terror attacks against Israelis or Hamas’ indiscriminate rocket fire. Mohamedou tries to put the blame entirely on Israel for the situation of the Palestinians. 

The question remains: What does Mohamedou teach his students in SciencesPo or at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies? Does he also make up “alternative facts” in his classes? 

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Switzerland: Parliament ends funding for antisemitic NGOs

Via NGO Monitor:

The resolution passed today in the Swiss Council of States will have a dramatic effect on government funding to non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The final vote today follows three years of NGO Monitor publications and presentations documenting the issue of unchecked and unaccountable NGO funding by Switzerland. The resolution directs the government to “amend the laws, ordinances and regulations” to prevent funding to NGOs “involved in racist, antisemitic or hate incitement actions.”

“This decision marks a fundamental change – when we first approached Swiss government officials, including the Foreign Ministry, their response was denial,” said Prof. Gerald Steinberg, president at NGO Monitor. “For the first time, a European country has passed legislation to end funding for NGOs that are vehicles for incitement and hate speech, specifically including antisemitism.”

The resolution before the Council of States, the upper house of the Parliament, is a slightly modified version of a bill, initiated by Swiss MP Christian Imark, approved by the lower house of the Swiss Parliament (111 to 78, 4 abstentions) in March. The Swiss media has also covered the issues extensively.

NGO Monitor notes that a primary channel for Swiss funding to NGOs in the Arab-Israeli conflict is the Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Secretariat (“Secretariat”), a joint funding mechanism of Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands. The Secretariat has funded over 40 Israeli and Palestinian NGOs, including groups that engage in “lawfare” against Israeli officials and companies that do business with Israel, promote BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) campaigns, exploit the false “apartheid” analogy to demonize Israel, and/or promote antisemitic propaganda.

NGO Monitor has extensively documented numerous concerns relating to the Secretariat, which disbursed over $14 million to NGOs in 2014-16. For instance, 15 out of 24 core funding recipients and 11 of 20 project funding grantees in this period support BDS. $7.3 million in core funding went to the groups involved in BDS.

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Switzerland considers war crimes complaint against Tzipi Livni

One wonders how many war crimes complaints have been filed in Belgium and in Switzerland and in other European countries against Arab countries?

Via The Times of Israel:

Switzerland’s attorney general’s office on Wednesday said the country is weighing whether to pursue a war crimes complaint filed against former minister Tzipi Livni over her role in the 2008-2009 Gaza war. 

“[The legal] request is presently being studied,” the attorney general’s office told Swiss news site Swissinfo. 

Quoting the French-language Swiss daily Le Temps, Swissinfo said that the suit was filed Monday by the pro-Palestinian Swiss organization Urgence against Livni, who served as foreign minister during the three-week long conflict between Israel and the Hamas terror group, a war known in Israel as Operation Cast Lead. 

The complaint against Livni was submitted after she visited the Swiss city of Lugano on Sunday to speak at an event arranged by the Swiss-Israel Association. 

Swiss NGO Trial International hailed Urgence’s decision to file the complaint, saying it would enable Swiss authorities to take legal action against Livni if she returns to the country. 

“Switzerland has an obligation to work on cases of alleged war crimes if the suspect steps on Swiss territory. If Switzerland opens an investigation, it is in line with Swiss law, especially given the alleged crimes committed during Operation Cast Lead,” a representative for the group told Swissinfo.

Livni has been the target of groups attempting to bring war crimes charges against Israeli leaders over Operation Cast Lead in a number of European countries. 

In January, Livni canceled a trip to Brussels when Belgian prosecutors planned to question her over allegations of war crimes. 

“We wanted to take advantage of her visit to try to advance the investigation,” a spokesman for Belgium’s federal prosecutor Thierry Werts said.

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Switzerland: Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter is widely considered as unfriendly toward Israel

Via The Jerusalem Post (Benjamin Weinthal):

Switzerland’s Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter’s meetings with the Jihadist organization Hamas have catapulted his policies into a critical spotlight in the central European country. 

According to the Swiss daily Blick on Sunday: “The foreign ministry calls for Western dialogue with Hamas. For this reason, Bern helps make the terrorist organization [Hamas] respectable, say critics.” 

The conservative Swiss People’s Party deputy and foreign policy expert, Alfred Heer, told the daily it is “unbelievable that the Federal Council’s Burkhalter does not finally end support of Hamas from the EDA [Federal Department of Foreign Affairs].” 

Heer said the foreign minister should, on the holiday of Passover, give consideration as to why Switzerland supports an organization whose goal is the destruction of Israel.
Jacob Keidar, Israel’s ambassador to Switzerland, told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday: “We have been conveying our views concerning Hamas to the Swiss government on a constant basis and we have been trying to persuade them to adopt our views.” 

Israel’s government, the European Union and the US classify Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. Switzerland is not a member of the EU and has vehemently opposed adopting terrorist designations for Hamas and the Lebanese group Hezbollah. (...) 

Burkhalter, who is from The Liberals party, is widely considered as unfriendly toward Israel. 

In December, the Swiss government and a Finnish NGO spent almost $85,000 to host a workshop in Geneva to unify Hamas with the Ramallah- based Palestinian Fatah party.

In 2012, the National Palace (Bundeshaus), which houses the Swiss parliament, hosted Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri. Speaking from Bern with the Post at the time, Ambassador ad interim (chargé d’affaires) Shalom Cohen said: “We were not happy with this development. We shared our view with the local authorities. (...) 

Burkhalter’s ministry has been embroiled in a separate anti-Israel scandal involving funds for NGOs that allegedly call for boycotts against Israel and express antisemitic aims. 

“Switzerland finances in different ways organizations in Israel and the Palestinian territories that call for the annihilation of Israel and for the death of Jews,” Basler Zeitung senior editor Dominik Feusi wrote in February. 

Since, 2013, the Swiss government has allegedly funneled nearly $700,000 to a human rights office in Ramallah that seeks to cover up the antisemitic work of its partner NGOs.

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