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Two Arabic-Speaking Men Arrested for Antisemitic Attack in Switzerland
A pro-Hamas demonstration in Zurich, Switzerland, Oct. 28, 2023. Photo: IMAGO/dieBildmanufaktur via Reuters Connect
i24 News — The Swiss authorities arrested two men in late August for an alleged antisemitic attack on a 19-year-old British Orthodox Jew in Davos.
The victim said the two men, who speak Arabic and French and are rejected asylum seekers in Switzerland, spat on him and knocked off his kippah while shouting “Free Palestine.”
Peter Peyer, canton Graubünden Director of Justice, told Swiss media outlets that “we do not tolerate people who are allowed to stay here attacking other people, whether it is because of religion or skin color.”
The Swiss authorities quickly released the two suspected perpetrators, who are aged 24 and 29.
“If people insult a Jewish guest, there is a high probability that it has an antisemitic background,” said Peyer. The Swiss authorities ruled out that the attack was linked to terrorism.
Writing for the popular Switzerland-based, pro-Israel website “Audiatur Online,” Lukas Joos said that the incident in Davos “is one of the most serious antisemitic violent crimes in recent years.”
He criticized the Swiss justice system for not jailing the suspects and the seemingly lax attitude of Jonathan Kreutner, the General Secretary of the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (SIG), toward an ostensible outbreak of Muslim antisemitism.
The title of Joos’ article is: “Muslim hatred of Jews? The SIG has ‘no evidence at the moment.’”
Joos wrote: “But Muslim violence against Jews is a sensitive topic, so it’s best not to say anything without hard and fast evidence. As Kreutner explained to the NZZ, you have to be careful not to ‘generalize’ or ‘stigmatize entire population groups.’”
According to Joos, “Kreutner doesn’t think anything about it. The fact that the two thugs are already back in the wild does not seem to be a ‘generalization’ nor does it ‘stigmatize entire population groups,’ which is why it probably does not affect his professional activity. And so only one question remains unanswered: Which organization is responsible for the (security) interests of Swiss Jews?”
Kreutner refused to respond to numerous i24NEWS press queries. Davos was engulfed in a second antisemitism scandal in August when it invited the reported German antisemite Michael Blume to deliver a talk on the meaning of antisemitism. Israeli government spokeswoman Tal Heinrich sharply criticized Blume in May, declaring “Comments that we have seen from Mr. Blume in the past about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and throughout this war demonstrate that he often lacks moral clarity.”
The journalist and Swiss Jew, David Klein, asked in the headline of his “Audiatur Online” piece about Blume: “Is an anti-Semite raising awareness about anti-Semitism in Davos?”
According to a June i24NEWS report, after Blume told the German media that Israel’s government is to blame for the increase of antisemitism in Europe, Roman Haller, a Holocaust survivor who lives in Munich and is the former director of the Jewish Claims Conference, blasted Blume as antisemitic and urged him to resign.
Davos-based pastor Astrid Fiehland, together with Eike-Harriet Riga, managing director of the Kulturplatz Davos, invited and hosted Blume. Fiehland refused to respond to i24NEWS press queries about her alleged role in making antisemitism socially and politically correct in Davos. Klein sent extensive information about Blume’s alleged antisemitism, including two legal rulings from Hamburg courts that Blume can be termed antisemitic based on his previous statements against Jews and the Zionist icon Orde Wingate, the “father of the IDF,” according to Israeli historian Michael Oren.
Klein wrote that “The Davos audience learns nothing about the controversy surrounding Blume in the text announcing the event” and “Pastor Fiehland angrily denies the accusation of anti-Israel agitation, saying she ‘lived in Israel for nine years.’ However, this argument is not convincing.”
Blume is a member of the Christian Democratic Union party (CDU). The CDU politician, Jan Jacobi, called for Blume’s removal on X: “The dismissal of Michael Blume is long overdue.” Kreutner did not respond to press queries about Davos hosting Blume.
The post Two Arabic-Speaking Men Arrested for Antisemitic Attack in Switzerland first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Says Missile Launched by Yemen’s Houthis ‘Most Likely’ Intercepted
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
The Israeli army said on Saturday that a missile fired from Yemen towards Israeli territory had been “most likely successfully intercepted,” while Yemen’s Houthi forces claimed responsibility for the launch.
Israel has threatened Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement – which has been attacking Israel in what it says is solidarity with Gaza – with a naval and air blockade if its attacks on Israel persist.
The Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group was responsible for Saturday’s attack, adding that it fired a missile towards the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.
Since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023, the Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have been firing at Israel and at shipping in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade.
Most of the dozens of missiles and drones they have launched have been intercepted or fallen short. Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes.
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Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel
People attend the funeral procession of Iranian military commanders, nuclear scientists and others killed in Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 28, 2025. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Large crowds of mourners dressed in black lined streets in Iran’s capital Tehran as the country held a funeral on Saturday for top military commanders, nuclear scientists and some of the civilians killed during this month’s aerial war with Israel.
At least 16 scientists and 10 senior commanders were among those mourned at the funeral, according to state media, including armed forces chief Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Revolutionary Guards commander General Hossein Salami, and Guards Aerospace Force chief General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
Their coffins were driven into Tehran’s Azadi Square adorned with their photos and national flags, as crowds waved flags and some reached out to touch the caskets and throw rose petals onto them. State-run Press TV showed an image of ballistic missiles on display.
Mass prayers were later held in the square.
State TV said the funeral, dubbed the “procession of the Martyrs of Power,” was held for a total of 60 people killed in the war, including four women and four children.
In attendance were President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior figures including Ali Shamkhani, who was seriously wounded during the conflict and is an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as Khamenei’s son Mojtaba.
“Today, Iranians, through heroic resistance against two regimes armed with nuclear weapons, protected their honor and dignity, and look to the future prouder, more dignified, and more resolute than ever,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who also attended the funeral, said in a Telegram post.
There was no immediate statement from Khamenei, who has not appeared publicly since the conflict began. In past funerals, he led prayers over the coffins of senior commanders ahead of public ceremonies broadcast on state television.
Israel launched the air war on June 13, attacking Iranian nuclear facilities and killing top military commanders as well as civilians in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq.
Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites, infrastructure and cities. The United States entered the war on June 22 with strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
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Israel, the only Middle Eastern country widely believed to have nuclear weapons, said it aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons.
Iran denies having a nuclear weapons program. The U.N. nuclear watchdog has said it has “no credible indication” of an active, coordinated weapons program in Iran.
Bagheri, Salami and Hajizadeh were killed on June 13, the first day of the war. Bagheri was being buried at the Behesht Zahra cemetery outside Tehran mid-afternoon on Saturday. Salami and Hajizadeh were due to be buried on Sunday.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he would consider bombing Iran again, while Khamenei, who has appeared in two pre-recorded video messages since the start of the war, has said Iran would respond to any future US attack by striking US military bases in the Middle East.
A senior Israeli military official said on Friday that Israel had delivered a “major blow” to Iran’s nuclear project. On Saturday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement that Israel and the US “failed to achieve their stated objectives” in the war.
According to Iranian health ministry figures, 610 people were killed on the Iranian side in the war before a ceasefire went into effect on Tuesday. More than 4,700 were injured.
Activist news agency HRANA put the number of killed at 974, including 387 civilians.
Israel’s health ministry said 28 were killed in Israel and 3,238 injured.
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Pro-Palestinian Rapper Leads ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at English Music festival
Revellers dance as Avril Lavigne performs on the Other Stage during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
i24 News – Chants of “death to the IDF” were heard during the English Glastonbury music festival on Saturday ahead of the appearance of the pro-Palestinian Irish rappers Kneecap.
One half of punk duo based Bob Vylan (who both use aliases to protect their privacy) shouted out during a section of their show “Death to the IDF” – the Israeli military. Videos posted on X (formerly Twitter) show the crowd responding to and repeating the cheer.
This comes after officials had petitioned the music festival to drop the band. The rap duo also expressed support for the following act, Kneecap, who the BCC refused to show live after one of its members, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh – better known by stage name Mo Chara – was charged with a terror offense.
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