Swiss Parliamentarians demanded their government respond to attacks against Jews in Switzerland following a recent synagogue arson attack in Geneva. A coalition of 104 Parliament members from the country’s major political parties signed the petition demanding the Swiss Federal Council in Bern take stronger action to address attacks against Jews, synagogues and Jewish cemeteries. “In some cases these attacks were fatal,” Vreni Mueller-Hemmi, one of the parliament members, wrote in the petition. It is important the considerable increase in anti-Semitic incidents is addressed by the government and measures to fight racist assaults should be enforced, Mueller-Hemmi added in an interview with JTA. The petition follows an arson attack May 24 on Geneva’s Hekhal Haness Synagogue, which sent shock waves throughout the Swiss Jewish community. A Geneva police spokesman told JTA on Wednesday that the investigation into the fire is ongoing.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
