Over 50 former diplomats blast Switzerland for ‘silence’ on Israel
In a joint letter to the Swiss foreign minister, 55 former diplomats have expressed their shock at Switzerland’s “silence and passivity” regarding Israel’s “war crimes” in Gaza. They call for immediate measures to be taken against the country.
+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox
Switzerland must immediately reject Israel’s plan “to expel the civilian population from Gaza and for Israel to reoccupy the territory militarily”. These are “forms of ethnic cleansing and genocidal processes”, the ambassadors wrote in an open letter to Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis on Sunday.
Furthermore, Switzerland must clearly reject any cooperation with the new “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation”, which is run by the US and permitted by Israel. Its food distribution system does not comply with the UN principles of neutrality, transparency and independence.
Suspend military cooperation
The letter also calls for the suspension of all scientific and academic cooperation with Israel that leads to violations of international law, as must all cooperation, funding and investment in the military and intelligence sector.
Persons with an international arrest warrant and settlers convicted of violent crimes must be banned from entering Switzerland. And all Israeli products imported into Switzerland must be labeled as coming from the settlements.
Recognition of Palestine
In the spirit of a two-state solution, the diplomats argue Switzerland must recognise the state of Palestine immediately, as 148 other UN member states have already done. In addition to the immediate release of the Israeli hostages, Switzerland must also demand the release of all Palestinian prisoners who are being held without trial.
Among the signatories of the letter are the former Swiss ambassadors to Germany, Paul Seger and former parliamentarian Tim Guldimann, the former ambassador to the US, Urs Ziswiler, the two former special envoys to the Middle East, Didier Pfirter and Jean-Daniel Ruch, and the former ambassador to Iran, Philippe Welti.
Translated from German by DeepL/jdp
We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication.
Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.
If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at english@swissinfo.ch
More
How retiring baby boomers could crash Swiss property market
More
Flat-hunting in Switzerland’s cheapest and most expensive municipalities
More
The world’s strongest currency is also super-competitive
More
The Russia affair in the Swiss secret service: ‘This is espionage’
More
Swiss food labels must declare animal suffering from July
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.