Zurich government rejects proposal to take in Gaza children

Zurich government does not want to take in children from Gaza Keystone-SDA

The Zurich cantonal government is sticking to its guns: it does not want to take in any injured children from Gaza. The security concerns are too great.

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At the beginning of October, it became known that Health Director Natalie Rickli from the right-wing Swiss People’s Party wanted to reject the proposal to take in children. A petition from the Social Democratic party with 42,000 signatures, which has since been submitted, has not changed her stance.

On Wednesday, the Zurich cantonal government announced that it would not be involved in taking in the injured children. The main reason is security concerns. A possible connection between individuals and the Palestinian militant group Hamas or other organisations could not be ruled out. The admission of the children and their escorts therefore harboured “incalculable risks”.

Around 100 accompanying persons

In addition, the medical and psychological care of the injured children involves considerable effort. The approximately 100 accompanying persons were also granted permanent humanitarian asylum and thus access to health and social benefits from the outset, with the right to family reunification at a later date.

For the Zurich government, the admission of a total of 20 children is also a “symbolic and arbitrary gesture with limited effect”. Instead of bringing children to Zurich, the Zurich government would rather use the money locally. The money from the federal government could be used to help significantly more people there.

Symbolic politics

The centre-right Radical Liberal party and the Swiss People’s party welcomed the Zurich government’s decision. The parties stated that they had stood firm against this “potentially dangerous symbolic policy”, which had been launched on their own authority by government ministers Beat Jans and Elisabeth Baume-Schneider from the Social Democratic party and Martin Pfister from the Centre party.

Seven children from the Gaza Strip have been receiving treatment in Swiss hospitals since last Friday. The minors – many of whom are under ten years old – are being treated in paediatric hospitals in the cantons of Geneva, Vaud, Ticino, Basel-Stadt, Lucerne and St Gallen. A further 13 children and their relatives are due to be admitted in November.

Translated from German by DeepL/jdp

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