‘Gaza war boosts antisemitism in Switzerland’

ZURICH (Reuters) – The number of antisemitic incidents in Switzerland has leaped since the October 7 massacre by Hamas in Israel and the Israeli government’s subsequent response against the Islamist group in Gaza, according to a report published on Tuesday.

The study by the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (SIG) and the Foundation against Racism and Antisemitism (GRA) showed the number of “real world” incidents shot up to 155 in 2023 – most of these after October 7 – from 57 the previous year.

The “unprecedented rise” in cases included 10 physical assaults, against one in the previous year, the study said, along with verbal insults, graffiti, and antisemitic placards.

“As a result of the dreadful terror attacks by Hamas on October 7, 2023, antisemitism has also manifested itself in Switzerland in a way that we could not imagine,” SIG president Ralph

Lewin and his GRA counterpart Zsolt Balkanyi-Guery wrote in a foreword to the annual report.

One of the most notorious recent cases occurred on March 2, when an Orthodox Jewish man was stabbed and left with life-threatening injuries by a Swiss teenager, an Islamic State supporter of Tunisian origin.

The incident, described by SIG as the most serious antisemitic hate crime in Switzerland in two decades, caused widespread shock and concern and led to enhanced security for Jewish sites in Zurich, where the attack took place.

About 114 of the antisemitic incidents in Switzerland last year occurred after October 7, the report said, when terrorists from Hamas, which administers Gaza, murdered 1,400 people in Israel and abducted 253.

Israel’s retaliatory military campaign on the densely populated enclave has since killed more than 31,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza authorities.