50% of Jews in Switzerland Say They Experienced Anti-Semitism

In a recent survey, approximately half of the Jewish residents in Switzerland said they have experienced some form of anti-Semitic abuse over the past five years.

The Algemeiner reported that the survey, conducted by the Zurich University of Applied Sciences and published on July 2, polled 500 Swiss Jews. Most of the anti-Semitic incidents involved threats and insults at work or school. Six percent said their properties were vandalized in an anti-Semitic manner and 3.5% said they had been physically abused for being Jewish.

An anonymous Jewish student surveyed told the Swiss newspaper Berner Oberlander that he doesn’t feel comfortable wearing his kippah in public settings, as people have shouted “Heil, Hitler!” and other anti-Semitic slurs at him when he wears it in public.

“I don’t want to attract attention in certain places, and I don’t want to risk being approached,” he said.

Dominic Pugatsch, who heads the GRA Foundation Against Racism and Anti-Semitism NGO, also told the Berner Oberlander that Switzerland is plagued with “everyday anti-Semitism.”

“Verbal harassment is, unfortunately, widespread on the street, at work or at school,” he added.

Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt expressed concern over the survey. “Alarming survey of Swiss Jews shows that 50% have faced anti-Semitic abuse in the past five years in their day-to-day lives,” Greenblatt tweeted. “Anti-Semitism should not be tolerated as a fact of life.”

Alarming survey of Swiss Jews shows that 50% have faced antisemitic abuse in the past five years in their day-to-day lives. Antisemitism should not be tolerated as a fact of life. https://t.co/IzkJFC1XUU

— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) July 6, 2020

U.N. Watch executive director Hillel Neuer, who is based in Switzerland, tweeted out the study and noted that Switzerland sponsored a United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution on July 5 singling out Israel for alleged human-rights violations “in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” Switzerland is not a member of the UNHRC.

🇨🇭 Here in Switzerland, 50% of Jews were targeted by antisemitism in past 5 years, according to a study by the Zurich University of Applied Sciences.

🇨🇭 Switzerland just sponsored a UNHRC resolution targeting the Jewish state—opposed by several EU states.https://t.co/daTlHOzXcR

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) July 5, 2020

Switzerland sponsored the resolution together with champions of human rights including Cuba, Pakistan, Venezuela & the PLO.

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) July 5, 2020

And Switzerland sponsored this U.N. Human Rights Council resolution even though they're not even currently a member of that body.

Despite our repeated appeals, Switzerland has never sponsored a resolution for human rights victims in China, Cuba, Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia… pic.twitter.com/dgC6D48NKo

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) July 5, 2020

In September, the Swiss government said it would review a proposal for the government to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism, which states that the demonization and delegitimization of Israel is anti-Semitic.