“Five different incidents were reported to us,” said Jonathan Kreutner, Secretary General of the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (SIG), on Tuesday. He confirmed reports in the online new website 20Minuten.
The attacks all took place in the suburb of Zurich-Wiedikon at the weekend. As far as is known, most of the attacks were reported to the police.
“Such a spate of physical attacks on Jewish people, where we have to assume, at least in part, that they only took place because the people were Jewish, is worrying and unusual,” said Kreutner in the 20 Minuten report. Word of the incidents had spread in the Jewish community and caused concern.
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Anti-Semitism in Switzerland
Anti-Semitic prejudices tend to rise to the surface during crises. Switzerland has a history of this kind of discrimination.
The number of antisemitic incidents in German-speaking and Italian-speaking Switzerland rose in 2023. A total of 1,130 antisemitic incidents were reported or observed, compared to 910 in the previous year, as reported by SIG and the Foundation against Racism and Antisemitism (GRA) in the spring. According to the latest anti-Semitism report, incidents in Germany increased particularly after the Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7. The figures for 2024 will be published by the SIG in the spring.
Adapted from German by DeepL/ac
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