Stunning the day after the attack on the Jewish festival on Bondi Beach: Rabbi Yehoram Ulman (left) mourns the at least 15 people killed.Image: keystone
After the terrorist attack on a Jewish festival in Australia, not only Jews in Switzerland are asking themselves the question: How safe are people of the Jewish faith in Switzerland?
15 dead, several dozen injured: The Jewish community is shaken after the anti-Semitic attack on a Hanukkah festival in Sydney. Also in Switzerland. How safe do Jews feel in Switzerland?
Jonathan Kreutner comments on Watson. He is central secretary of the Swiss-Israeli Community Association (SIG). As a national umbrella organization, it represents 18 Jewish communities across Switzerland and thus almost three quarters of the Jewish population in Switzerland. Kreutner says:
“For the Jewish population in Switzerland, this doesn’t feel like an attack that happened in faraway Australia. We know that something like this can happen to us at any time.”
Jonathan Kreutner, Secretary General SIG
As an example of this, Kreutner cites the anti-Semitic attack at the beginning of March 2024, when an Orthodox Jew was attacked with a knife by a young person in Zurich Selnau. The then 50-year-old man survived with serious injuries; the knife struck the main artery and narrowly missed the heart.
The feeling of security among Jews in Switzerland has suffered massively in the last two years, says Kreutner.
More and more Jews are hiding their faith
This can be proven with numbers. Last year, the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) conducted a survey among Jews living in Switzerland for the second time since 2020.
While in 2020 21.3 percent of people said that they sometimes, often or always avoided Jewish events, in 2024 this figure was 43.9 percent – a doubling.
Avoidance behavior can also be seen in the locations in which Jews in Switzerland feel safe. 40.9 percent of those surveyed said in 2024 that they would avoid certain places or areas. In 2020, this value was 19.4 percent.
Last year, 71.4 percent of those surveyed also said they no longer wore or made visible things that would make their Jewish faith recognizable. This value was 62.9 percent in 2020.
«We see that red lines are shifting. Things that were considered unspeakable suddenly become socially acceptable in certain circles,” says Kreutner. Anti-Semitic slogans were sometimes chanted at the pro-Palestine demonstrations, which sometimes took place almost weekly. Slogans calling for the annihilation of Israel are not uncommon.
“Swiss Jews are now becoming enemies only when they feel connected to the only Jewish state in the world – regardless of how they feel about the country’s politics.”
Jonathan Kreutner, Secretary General SIG
Wouldn’t it be the task of national politics to combat this increasing anti-Semitism in Switzerland? Sibel Arslan, National Councilor of the Green Party, has been calling for this for years. “Politicians and authorities need to pay significantly more attention to the fight against anti-Semitism,” she says.
Arslan was even more bothered by the fact that the Federal Council does not have a national strategy to stop anti-Semitism. As early as 2022, she therefore called on the Federal Council to draw up an action plan with “effective measures” against anti-Semitism.
First national strategy
At the time, however, the Federal Council considered the need for action to be insufficient and recommended that Arslan’s proposal be rejected. Only last week, three years later and under the influence of the war in the Middle East, the Federal Council reconsidered its position. On December 8th, he adopted the first national strategy against racism and anti-Semitism.
Arslan is happy about it. What matters most to them now is raising awareness. “It is crucial that children deal with the topic at school early on.”
Arslan does not want to accept the accusation that anti-Semitism has increased, particularly in left-wing circles that are traditionally pro-Palestinian:
“Criticism of the right-wing populist government of Netanyahu because of its serious human rights violations is legitimate, but must not be equated with anti-Semitic attacks on Jews.”
Sibel Arslan, National Councilor Greens/BS
For Kreutner from the SIG, it is clear what must be a priority in the action plan: “It is now also about introducing effective measures to combat anti-Semitism and cooling down the mood.” The Jewish community has great trust in the Swiss security authorities.
Will Jewish communities increase protective measures for the rest of Hanukkah celebrations, which last until December 21st? The security concepts are constantly being adjusted, says Kreutner: “Unfortunately, synagogues and other Jewish institutions have not only been considered at risk since yesterday.”
This video shows the moment one of the Sydney attackers is disarmed
Video: watson/hanna dedial