Zurich doubles spending on synagogue protection

City of Zurich doubles spending on synagogue protection Keystone-SDA

The city of Zurich is doubling its contribution to the protection of Jewish institutions. The city parliament approved the bill on Wednesday without any dissenting votes.

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The contributions will be doubled from CHF1 million ($1.25 million) to CHF2 million retroactively to 2024. The canton of Zurich has also already doubled its contributions from CHF1 million to CHF2 million. The federal government is also contributing to the security costs.

This means that a total of CHF8 million will be available each year for construction measures and security personnel. “It is understandable that Jewish organisations have asked for more support,” said Michael Schmid, local politician from the left-wing Alternative List party. Since the escalation of the Middle East conflict, their facilities have been under increased threat.

+ Teenager arrested over stabbing of Orthodox Jewish man in Zurich

The Social Democratic party also backed the increase in spending. “Security is not a private matter, but the responsibility of the constitutional state,” said Social Democrat Severin Meier. The Radical-Liberal party Zurich politician Sven Sobernheim said the costs are “comparatively small, but they provide a lot of protection and security”.

Although the money is mainly used to protect Jewish institutions, other minorities can also apply for support, such as Muslim communities or LGBTQ communities.

Charges against young people

The number of anti-Semitic incidents in Switzerland has been at an unprecedentedly high level since the outbreak of war in the Middle East. A total of 221 incidents were recorded in 2024. The figures for 2025 will only be available in spring.

One of these 221 incidents was the knife attack on an Orthodox Jew by a then 15-year-old naturalised Tunisian. The man who was stabbed survived seriously injured. The alleged perpetrator is still in a closed institution.

In response to an enquiry by the Keystone-SDA news agency on Wednesday, the Office of the Attorney General for Juvenile Justice stated that no charges have yet been brought against the youth. This is expected to happen in the first quarter, i.e. by the end of March.

Adapted from German by AI/jdp

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