Tag Archive for Switzerland

| July 31, 2019
No comments

Amid corruption in UNRWA, Switzerland suspends payments

The Swiss Federal Dept of Foreign Affairs clarified that it has already transferred $22.5 million to UNRWA for 2019, so the suspension of financial support would be for 2020, as it attaches special importance to good governance for international organizations.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF, URI BOLLAG

 

Switzerland suspended payments to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) until completion of a UN investigation into ethical misconduct among senior officials in the organization, the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday.

The Swiss clarified that it has already provided UNRWA with its pledged $22.5 million for 2019 and that the suspension would only impact money slated for 2020. Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags: ,
| November 29, 2017
No comments

Israel bars pro-Hamas Swiss diplomats from entering Gaza

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman subsequently issued the ban having been informed by IDF Maj-Gen Yoav Mordechai of a set of meetings that occurred between Swiss representatives and the Gaza-based terrorist group leaders, Ismail Haniyeh & Yahya Sinwar.

By i24NEWS

 

Swiss officials have been reportedly banned from entering the Gaza Strip by Israel from via territory, following a set of meetings that apparently occurred between representatives from the country and Gaza-based Hamas group leaders, The Times of Israel reported on Wednesday.

The matter was brought to the attention of Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman who subsequently issued the ban having been informed by Israel Defence Forces’ Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) Yoav Mordechai, reported Hadashot on Tuesday. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| November 2, 2017
No comments

CAUGHT: Swiss officials visited Israel’s Golan Heights for years, against national policy

Having contravened official policy of not recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights in it’s futile desire to appear impartial & neutral, Swiss officials have for years visited the Golan Heights, and for days at a time, to observe tests of Israel’s Elbit Systems Hermes 900 drone the Swiss gov’t purchased for $265 million.

By Reuters

 

ZURICH – Switzerland’s defense ministry has admitted sending staff to test reconnaissance drones in contested land held by Israel—an embarrassing blow for the neutral European country’s status as an honest broker in the Middle East.

Swiss officials visited an airfield in the Golan Heights region on three occasions in 2012, 2013 and 2015 to monitor tests of the Israeli-built Hermes 900 aircraft that they are buying for $265 million. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , ,
| August 23, 2017
No comments

#BDSfail: Switzerland ends funding to Palestinian NGO

REPORT: The ‘Human Rights Intern’l Humanitarian Law Secretariat’ sounds respectable, but because they continue to finance Palestinian terrorist groups, and refuse to stop, Switzerland ended its funding and support of the West Bank NGO.

By 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. Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags: , , ,
| August 15, 2017
No comments

Swiss Hotel Requires Jewish Guests to Shower Before Using Swimming-pool

Guests say the sign at the hotel pool “reeks of anti-Semitism,” while another sign posted in the kitchen for “Jewisch Guests” made them feel ‘unwanted.’
• Swiss management apologizes, promising to remove the signs since they had “no intention to offend anyone.”

By Yehuda Shlezinger

 

Israeli tourists staying at the Paradies holiday apartments in the Swiss resort town of Arosa have reported a disturbing sign posted on the premises instructing Jewish guests — and only Jews — to shower before using the swimming pool.

Many haredi tourists visit European resorts at this time of year, when yeshiva students are on summer vacation. Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags: , ,
| June 1, 2017
One comment

Not Neutral Switzerland Considers War Crimes Charges Against Former Israeli Minister

 

The Swiss Attorney General has confirmed his office is considering ‘war crimes’ charges against Israel’s former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, after receiving complaint submitted by pro-Palestinian group for her role in Israel’s ‘Operation Cast Lead’ against Hamas in 2008.

By Arutz Sheva Staff

 

The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland has confirmed that it is considering a request by a pro-Palestinian group to have former Israeli Foreign Minister and Zionist Union MK tried for alleged war crimes for her role in Israel’s counter-terrorism “Operation Cast Lead.”

Arabs in Uproar After Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal Poses With Israel’s Tzipi Livni – Twitter

According to Le Temps newspaper, Livni was named in a suit filed by the Geneva-based “Urgence Palestine” activist group. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , , ,
| March 9, 2017
No comments

Unprecedented #BDSfail: Swiss gov’t prohibits state funding of BDS

Marking the first time any European parliament acknowledged the moral equivalence and/or correlation between anti-Semitism and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, the Swiss parliament now prohibits government funding of BDS, categorizing it along with other racist and anti-Semitic organizations.

By Ben-Dror Yemini

 

Switzerland’s parliament made an unprecedented decision on Wednesday to prevent the state from “financing any organization which supports racism, anti-Semitism, or the BDS.”

The BDS, for the first time in any European parliament, was lumped in by the Swiss parliamentarians next to racism and anti-Semitism. The decision was passed with 111 votes for it and 78 against, while 4 abstained. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News, The Diaspora | Tags: , , , ,
| March 7, 2017
No comments

REPORT: Switzerland funds NGOs that promotes killing Jews and Israel’s annihilation

 

According to a Basler Zeitung report, Switzerland finances NGOs in the Palestinian territories and in Israel, that calls for the murder of Jews and works for the destruction of Israel.

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL

 

A February article in the Swiss daily Basler Zeitung reported that some of the nearly $60 million its government has sent in support of Middle East projects also funds initiatives that call for the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews.

“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,” wrote Dominik Feusi, senior editor of Basler Zeitung. Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags: , , ,
| November 22, 2016
No comments

Swiss report notes “it is the state’s duty” to protect local Jews but refuses to fund needed security

 

Swiss government refuses to follow neighbouring countries where Jews or Jewish institution may be targeted in violent attacks, saying, ‘There is no constitutional basis permitting the federal state in funding the costs.’

JTA

 

Switzerland’s Jews need to fund their own security costs, a Swiss government agency said in a report on anti-Semitism.

The unusual assertion came in a report published last week by the Swiss interior ministry’s Service for the Fight against Racism. It prompted a mixed reaction by the country’s Jewish communities, who welcomed the report’s naming of the problem but criticized its failure to offer alternative solutions. Continue Reading »

Category: Jewish News | Tags:
| May 25, 2016
No comments

Swiss parliament to end funding “racist & anti-Semitic actions” or are involved in BDS

 

The Swiss parliament’s inquiry into anti-Israel NGOs could bring about devastating changes for scores of pro-Palestinian NGOs operating in Israel & in the disputed territories.

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL

 

Berlin – The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) has allocated funds in the millions to anti-Israel NGOs linked to terrorism and working in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, according to a report that appeared in Switzerland’s Basler Zeitung on Monday.

Swiss parliament in Bern – Photo: AFP

The front-page story by veteran journalist Dominik Feusi, headlined “Resistance in Parliament against money for Israel-critical campaigns,” stated that MP Christian Imark had introduced a motion supported by 41 lawmakers from across the political spectrum calling on the FDFA to stop all direct or indirect funding to organizations that sponsor “racist and anti-Semitic actions” or are involved in BDS campaigns. Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags: , , ,
| February 20, 2016
No comments

Swiss investigating clandestine 1970 diplomatic-PLO deal

 

Switzerland to probe whether a pact between a former Swiss gov’t minister & the PLO interfered with an investigation into a terrorist attack that killed 47 people on a Swissair plane in 1970.

By REUTERS

 

Switzerland is looking into whether a former government minister struck a secret deal offering diplomatic assistance to the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1970 in exchange for the Arab group stopping attacks on Swiss targets.

Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat waves as he is briefly lifted on the shoulders of Palestinian police moments after entering the Gaza Strip in 1994. – Photo: REUTERS

The allegation emerged this year in a book, Swiss Terror Years, which has also raised questions whether a pact between the PLO and Switzerland interfered with an investigation into a bomb attack on a Swissair plane in 1970 that killed 47 people. Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags: , ,
| December 12, 2015
No comments

Switzerland arrested 2 Syrian nationals planning chemical terror attack

 

Two men with Syrian passports nabbed on suspicions of transporting ‘explosives & toxic gases’ in Geneva, possibly for an attack on the UN headquarters.

By Arutz Sheva Staff

 

Swiss authorities said Saturday that two people of Syrian origin had been arrested on suspicion of transporting “explosives and toxic gases” as part of a probe into a terror threat.

United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland (file) – Thinkstock

The two suspects arrested Friday are accused of the “manufacture, concealment and transport of explosives and toxic gases,” the federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

They are also under suspicion of violating Swiss law prohibiting “groups like Al Qaeda, Islamic State and similar organisations,” it added. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| September 7, 2015
No comments

#BDSfail: Switzerland to buy 6 Israeli drones for border surveillance

 

Purchase approved at $250 million by Swiss parliament despite pro-Palestinian supporters rallying against investment in anything Israeli.

By i24news

 

Switzerland’s parliament on Monday voted in favor of a controversial plan to buy six Israeli surveillance drones worth 250 million Swiss francs ($256 million, 230million euros).

The upper house of the Swiss parliament approved the purchase of six unarmed Hermes 900 drones with 30 votes in favor and 12 opposed, confirming the lower chamber’s previous authorization of the deal.

An Elbit Systems’ Multi-role long range Male UAV Hermes 900 is presented at the International Paris Airshow at Le Bourget, France, on June 17, 2015 – Photo: Eric Piermont/AFP

Campaigners had rallied against the deal with Israeli company Elbit Systems, urging Switzerland not to invest in Israel’s military complex due to its alleged “systematic human rights abuses” against Palestinians. Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags: , , ,
| June 7, 2015
No comments

10 Swiss MPs: Gov’t Funding ‘Breaking the Silence’ a scandal & misuse of tax money

“Disinformation & the political ideology of hatred are being directed against the Jewish state…(by) one-sided, unbalanced non-scientific reports.”  The 10 Swiss parliamentarians said the NGO belongs to the BDS movement and its work is “propaganda.”

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL

 

The opening of the Breaking the Silence exhibit in Zurich on Thursday unleashed a firestorm of criticism from Swiss politicians who say the country’s Foreign Ministry misused public funds to finance a hate-filled exhibit targeting the Jewish state.

The Breaking the Silence exhibit at the Kulturhaus Helferei in Zurich, Switzerland. – Photo: AFP/MICHAEL BUHOLZER

“We condemn sharply the sponsorship of Breaking the Silence, with public monies through the EDA [Swiss Foreign Ministry] and the Zurich Finance Department, and expect in future a careful examination of projects and those organizations standing behind such projects before Swiss taxpayer money is misused,” 10 Swiss MPs from the parliamentary Swiss-Israel parliamentary group said in a statement dated Tuesday. Continue Reading »

Category: The Diaspora | Tags: , , , , ,
| March 26, 2015
No comments

Switzerland, Not EU Member, Bankrolls Hamas to Retain Control in Gaza

Even as the EU continues to sanction Hamas, the influx of Swiss financial support now bolsters the terrorist regime that was on its last legs.

By Israel Today Staff

 

Switzerland has put together a generous financial package to prop up the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip after billions in promised foreign donations following last summer’s Gaza war failed to materialize.

That according to Palestinian officials who spoke to Israel’s NRG news portal, which reported that as part of the deal, the Swiss government would pay the salaries of thousands of Hamas members – many of whom are known terrorists – thereby propping up Hamas rule.

Continue Reading »
Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
« Older Entries