A pro-Hamas demonstration in Zurich, Switzerland, Oct. 28, 2023. Photo: IMAGO/dieBildmanufaktur via Reuters Connect

Nearly 2,000 antisemitic incidents were reported in French-speaking Switzerland in 2024, marking a 90 percent increase from the previous year amid the aftermath of the Hamas-led massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, according to a new report published this week.

The Intercommunity Coordination Against Antisemitism and Defamation (CICAD), a Geneva-based NGO, released its annual report on antisemitism in French-speaking Switzerland for last year, revealing 1,789 antisemitic incidents — the highest number recorded since 2014.

Based on CICAD’s new study, the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza prompted a historic surge in attacks on the Swiss Jewish community, with more than half of the incidents (52.5 percent) categorized as “traditional” forms of antisemitism and 14.4 percent linked to anti-Zionism.

In previous years, antisemitic incidents primarily focused on online hate speech. However, the 69-page report identified a “dangerous escalation” of antisemitic acts in 2024, marked by a significant rise in physical violence and threats against Jews, as well as attacks on Jewish property, including homes, businesses, and synagogues.

Last year in Geneva, a 10-year-old Jewish girl was punched in the face, kicked, and had her hair pulled by three classmates who yelled, “There is no place for Jews in the world!” while recording the incident.

In Lausanne, Switzerland’s fourth-largest city, a Jewish man wearing a kippah was attacked in a supermarket. While pushing and hitting him, the assailant shouted, “You are the terrorists!”

According to the report, antisemitic verbal and written threats have also increased, often appearing as graffiti or other forms of property vandalism.

For example, a Jewish family in Lausanne found a threatening message in their mailbox that read: “We don’t want you here — leave before it’s too late.”

In another incident, the office of a Jewish lawyer was broken into, with documents left scattered and the phrase “The world will be purified of Zionists” spray-painted on the wall.

The CICAD also reported an “alarming increase” in antisemitic acts directly targeting Jewish students in schools and universities, including rising Nazi salutes on playgrounds, verbal and physical abuse, and teachers comparing Jews to Nazis in class.

Shortly after the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel, purportedly pro-Palestinian demonstrators attempted takeovers of university facilities at several campuses, with participants calling for the eradication of the Jewish state. For example, posters reading “Intifada jusqu’à la victoire” (“Intifada until victory”) were displayed around the University of Geneva campus.

Other incidents included Jewish students being told, “Go back to Auschwitz,” referencing the largest Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust, and “You’re bad at school because you’re Jewish.”

According to the CICAD, the growing security concerns within Jewish communities in Switzerland have turned into a national issue that demands swift action.

The report also found that more than two-thirds (72.1 percent) of all reported antisemitic incidents in 2024 originated from social media platforms, particularly Instagram, Telegram, and X. The study explained that the anonymity and viral nature of these platforms enable the widespread distribution of antisemitic content.

Last month, the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (SIG), in collaboration with the Foundation Against Racism and Antisemitism (GRA), released its annual report on antisemitism in German-, Italian-, and Romansh-speaking Switzerland last year.

According to this report, antisemitism in Switzerland reached an “unprecedented level” in 2024, with 221 “real-world” antisemitic incidents recorded. This marked a 43 percent increase compared to 2023 and a 287 percent rise compared to 2022, following the months leading up to the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.

Of all the antisemitic incidents registered in 2024, 11 were physical attacks on Jews, including an attempted murder in Zurich and an attempted arson attack on a synagogue. In contrast, hardly any such incidents were reported prior to the Gaza War.

One of the most notorious recent cases was the Zurich attempted murder, in which an Orthodox Jewish man was stabbed and left with life-threatening injuries by a Swiss teenager, an Islamic State supporter of Tunisian origin.

The post Antisemitic Incidents Surged 90% in French-Speaking Switzerland in 2024, New Report Finds first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

US Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) at a press conference in Bergenfield, New Jersey, US on June 5, 2023. Photo: Kyle Mazza/NurPhoto via Reuters Connect

US Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) wrote a letter on Sunday to Attorney General Pam Bondi requesting a federal investigation into the New Jersey-based Palestinian American Community Center (PACC) for potentially violating US anti-terrorism laws, citing the group’s sources of financial support and decision to recently host a member of an internationally designated terrorist organization.

PACC last week held its annual conference, titled “Grounded in Action: Exploring the Power of the Palestinian Diaspora,” which featured Wisam Rafeedie as a scheduled guest. Rafeedie, a self-admitted member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), reportedly addressed the conference virtually on the 4th day of the event. 

In his letter, Gottheimer lambasted PACC for hosting Rafeedie, citing his “long history of supporting terrorism and engaging in antisemitic rhetoric.” The lawmaker also repudiated Rafeedie for defending the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, alleging that he “downplayed several documented atrocities” by dismissing the Israeli narrative as a “lie.”

Gottheimer slammed PACC for its attempt to “obfuscate Rafeedie’s participation in the conference” by scrubbing its website of “promotional images” featuring the PFLP member. The lawmaker also accused PACC of receiving financial assistance from American Muslims for Palestine, an organization currently embroiled in a federal investigation for potentially participating in illegal activity such as “benefiting or providing support to terrorist organizations.”

“I respectfully request that the US Department of Justice’s District of New Jersey investigate PACC for possible violations of United States law, including but not limited to violations or conspiracy to violate, Section 2339B of the Anti-Terrorism Act,” wrote Gottheimer, a member of the US House Intelligence Committee. “Section 2339B of the Anti-Terrorism Act criminalizes not only the provision of material support to terrorist organizations but also attempts or conspiracies to do so.”

Earlier this month, The Algemeiner reported that US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) agreed to headline the event’s “Youth Day,” in which she hosted a reading and signing for her new children’s book, Mama in Congress, alongside her son Adam Tlaib.

Tlaib, one of the most vocal critics of Israel in Congress, came under criticism last May for attending “The People’s Conference for Palestine,” an event which also hosted Rafeedie among other individuals connected to terrorist groups. 

During that event, Rafeedie praised Hamas, the terrorist group that runs Gaza and murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages on Oct. 7, 2023, as a “resistance” against Israel. He defended and downplayed Hamas’s atrocities, saying that “Zionists lie like they breathe.”

“This is not a struggle between Hamas and Israel. Hamas is part of the resistance of the Palestinian people. The core issue is between the Palestinian people and the project of settler colonialism and ethnic cleansing,” Rafeedie said. 

Rafeedie also called for the complete destruction of Israel and the replacement of the Jewish state with a “democratic” Palestine.

The post US Lawmaker Asks Justice Department to Investigate Palestinian Group Which Hosted Tlaib for Terror Ties first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

The Iranian and US flags are seen printed on paper in this illustration taken Jan. 27, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

The US and Iran have confirmed they will hold high-level nuclear negotiations this weekend, as Washington continues to pressure Tehran to strike a deal amid escalating regional tensions.

“Iran and the United States will meet in Oman on Saturday for indirect high-level talks,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Tuesday in a social media post.

“It is as much an opportunity as it is a test,” Araghchi wrote on X. “The ball is in America’s court.”

Iran and the United States will meet in Oman on Saturday for indirect high-level talks.

It is as much an opportunity as it is a test. The ball is in America’s court.

— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) April 7, 2025

On Monday, US President Donald Trump announced that both countries are trying to negotiate a deal, with talks set to take place in Oman’s capital, Muscat.

“We’re having direct talks with Iran, and they’ve started,” Trump told reporters while meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. “There’s a major meeting going on between us and Iran that will take place on Saturday, and it will be top level.”

US and Iranian officials have put out contradictory statements about whether the talks will be direct or indirect, the latter of which would involve Omani mediators passing messages between the sides.

“I think everybody agrees that doing a deal would be preferable,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday. “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.”

He added, “If it can be done diplomatically in a full way, the way it was done in Libya, I think that would be a good thing. … Hopefully, those talks will be successful.”

According to Iranian state media, the negotiations will be led by Araghchi and US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff, with Oman’s Foreign Minister, Badr Albusaidi, serving as a mediator, as the country has long been a channel for communication between the two adversaries.

Tehran has previously said that the country’s missile program would be off limits in any nuclear discussions.

Last week, Trump threatened to bomb Iran and impose secondary tariffs if Tehran does not reach an agreement with Washington to curb its nuclear program.

In response to the White House’s military threats, Iran issued notices to Iraq, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkey, and Bahrain, warning that any support for a US attack on Iran — including the use of their airspace or territory by American forces — would be considered an act of hostility.

During his first term, Trump withdrew the US from a 2015 nuclear deal — known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — between Iran and several world powers, which had imposed temporary limits on Tehran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.

Addressing Washington’s military threats, Araghchi said last week that Iran has always complied with the nuclear deal and never sought to develop nuclear weapons, stressing that military action against the country is not a viable option.

“10 years after signing the JCPOA — and 7 years after the US unilaterally walked away from it — there is not ONE SHRED OF PROOF that Iran has violated this commitment,” Araghchi wrote in a post on X. “Diplomatic engagement worked in the past and can still work. BUT, it should be clear to all that there is — by definition — no such thing as a ‘military option’ let alone a ‘military solution.’”

POTUS may not like the 2015 nuclear deal. But it contains one vital commitment by Iran which remains in place, and which even the US—being out of the deal—has benefited from:

“Iran reaffirms that under no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop or acquire any nuclear…

— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) April 1, 2025

At the White House on Monday, Netanyahu said that the US and Israel are “united in the goal that Iran does not ever get nuclear weapons.”

“If it can be done diplomatically in a full way, the way that it was done in Libya, I think that would be a good thing,” the Israeli top official said. “But whatever happens, we have to make sure that Iran does not have nuclear weapons.”

He explained that the Libyan style would involve the US intervening in Iran, overseeing the destruction of Iran’s nuclear installations and the dismantling of equipment. However, Netanyahu also mentioned that military action was discussed as a secondary option if diplomacy fails.

“The second possibility, that will not be, is that they drag out the talks and then there is the military option,” he said in a statement after his meeting with Trump. “Everyone understands this. We spoke about this at length.”

Even though Tehran has denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has warned that Iran is “dramatically” accelerating uranium enrichment to up to 60 percent purity, close to the roughly 90 percent weapons-grade level and enough to build six nuclear bombs.

Tehran has repeatedly claimed that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes rather than weapon development.

However, Western states have said there is no “credible civilian justification” for the country’s recent nuclear activity, arguing it “gives Iran the capability to rapidly produce sufficient fissile material for multiple nuclear weapons.”

The post US, Iran to Hold Nuclear Talks in Oman on Saturday first appeared on Algemeiner.com.