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European Surprise: Switzerland Takes a Hardliner Stance Against Terrorism
A pro-Hamas demonstration in Zurich, Switzerland, Oct. 28, 2023. Photo: IMAGO/dieBildmanufaktur via Reuters Connect
Historically known for its neutrality, Switzerland maintained decades of politically neutral and pacifist policies towards international conflicts, while seeking world peace as a motto. But even with such a pacifist approach, the country remains a target for Islamism and jihadism, as it witnessed a spike in terrorism activities recently.
Switzerland has taken steps to combat these escalating threats, which appear to some as a reversal of its historically neutral stance, by targeting Islamist terrorists such as Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah.
A Swiss parliamentary committee has voted to ban Hamas as terrorist group on October 23rd, and proposed to ban Hezbollah for the same reason. The ban will be ratified by the House of Representatives and Senate in the upcoming winter. The ban would carry up to 20 years in prison for any person joining or aid these organizations.
“It is not accurate to say that Switzerland moved away from a position of neutrality. It still maintains formal neutrality on the issue of conflicts between state actors, although in light of the Russia-Ukraine war, there have been official moves to reconsider that norm” said New York-based lawyer and journalist Irina Tsukerman, who spoke to the Investigative Project on Terrorism.
Swiss security authorities remain on a high alert this year as a result of the mounting terrorism threats by the Islamic State against European countries, according to a statement by Christian Dussey, the director of the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) last August.
The Islamist terrorist group “hadn’t done this for a long time. It’s really given a new impetus to the movement, multiplied by social networks”, said Dussey in an interview for the Switzerland’s Daily Tages Anzieger.
Around 30 arrests have been made across Europe of Islamic State suspects planning attacks the first 8 months of the year alone. Switzerland was not spared by the moves and influence of ISIS. Last March, a 15-year old teenager who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State stabbed a Jewish man in Zurich. The teenager called himself a “Soldier” of the alleged “Caliphate.”
The recent moves by Islamist groups warranted more scrutiny and even an update to the national Swiss counterterrorism strategy that was set in 2015 and updated last May. The updated strategy has enabled more freedoms for the police units in handling terrorism related issues and gives broader definitions for terrorism to combat the new threats.
Switzerland as a Global Private Banking Haven
Switzerland’s global influence stems from being the private banking haven of the world, with over $9.4 trillion dollars in assets as of 2023 held in Swiss banks. Half of these belong for foreign accounts and entities. The code of secrecy for Swiss banks was upheld in 1713, when the Great Council of Geneva established a federal act requiring bankers to maintain a register of all their clients while forbidding the bankers from divulging that information to anyone other than the client.
By 1934, The Banking Act in Switzerland made it a crime to disclose a client’s information to any foreign government, thus cementing the reputation of Switzerland as a tax haven and a trusted global vault. But with three centuries of secrecy came the risk of terrorist and global crime networks exploitation of the Swiss banking system through money-laundering schemes. This prompted the country to join a number of international organizations to fight these illicit activities including the G8-affiliated Counter-Terrorism Action Group (CTAG).
However, Tsukerman believes it will be no easy task to weed out terrorism-affiliated accounts and funding.
“Clearing out Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist funding is not going to be easy. The first step is to finalize laws banning the organizations, and to establish that particular accounts are traceable to the terrorists. Likewise, shell organizations, NGOs, and corporate entities, and even individual accounts linked to the network, need to be investigated.”
Nevertheless, Switzerland is looking firmer this time around to freeze all terrorist related assets in the country to prevent funding international organizations that could be utilized for terrorism even if they carry the United Nations label such as the controversial UNRWA.
The Swiss National Council passed a motion on Sepember 10th to cut funding to the organization for alleged cooperation with Hamas. According to The Jerusalem Post, David Zuberbühler, a member of the Swiss National Council who introduced the legislation, was prevented along with a parliamentary delegation from accessing educational material paid by the UNRWA during a visit to Bethlehem in January 2023. This happened despite the fact that access to educational materials was agreed upon prior to the delegation visit.
“In UNRWA schools, children are taught to hate Jews and Israel. If terrorism is glorified, anti-Semitism is stoked and violence is incited in UNRWA schools, then one should not ask why a cruel act of terror like that of October 7 could have occurred,” stated Zuberbühler in the interview.
Switzerland vehemently condemned both the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and Hezbollah attacks that started a day later. The Swiss stance against both groups targeting civilians was clear from the early stages.
Moreover, despite supporting a two-state solution as means of a final step of resolving Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Switzerland abstained from voting for a full membership for a Palestinian state in the United Nations last April. The Swiss government believes that it can support a Palestinian state only in case of a peace in the region.
“At the present time” the admission of Palestine would “not be conducive” to détente and peace efforts in the Middle East said a statement for the Swiss Foreign ministry.
“Switzerland is of the opinion that it would be better to admit Palestine as a full member of the UN at a time when such a step will fit into the logic of an emerging peace” mentioned the statement.
The Swiss House of Representatives reiterated the same position in June and rejected a motion by the Social Democratic Party to recognize an independent Palestinian State.
New Security and Terrorism Threats
Switzerland overlooked the danger of Hamas for decades and hasn’t felt the urge to ban the group in the past, but the situation changed dramatically following the October 7 attacks, which manifested the danger of the terrorist group. Two Swiss citizens were killed in the attack, among the 1,200 Israeli and other nationalities who were slain that day.
Switzerland has long been targeted by Islamist groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, in efforts to promote the Islamization of the country.
Swiss lawmakers were forced to move from their complacent stance of the past decades to a more proactive one given the impending threats on their country and its neighbors.
“The scale and the extensive planning of the October 7 attack may have been the wake-up call for Europe; many international citizens came to harm in addition to the Israelis as a result, and the Hamas call for global action likewise had a chilling effect on decisionmakers in Switzerland and elsewhere.” said Tsukerman.
Outside of the counter-terrorism precautions, Switzerland signed a declaration to join the European Sky Shield initiative, which was formed as a precaution following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The system was initiated by Germany, and is designed to allow European countries to buy unified air-defense systems and conduct joint exercises.
“There is a direct connection between Switzerland’s shifting stand towards defensive posture with regards to Russia’s threat to Europe and an openness to tougher counterterrorism action. The reality is that Russia is one of the leading originators of modern terrorism, which started with political terror during the Czarist era,” said Tsukerman.
The escalating situation in Ukraine along with threats from Islamic States and their ilk, in the form of Hamas and Hezbollah, have forced the Swiss to rethink their passive neutral stance into a more positive neutrality based in reality rather than wishful thinking. No one can predict how far the Swiss will go with their counter-terrorism efforts.
“As Samuel Ramani recently wrote in the Telegraph on November 6th, it is only a matter of time before serious Russian attacks rock Europe,” said Tsukerman.
The Swiss are finally practicing realpolitik more than any time in their modern history, thanks to the new realities and terrorism threats that surround the peaceful central European country.
Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) Senior Fellow Hany Ghoraba is an Egyptian writer, political and counter-terrorism analyst at Al Ahram Weekly and a regular contributor the BBC. He is the author of Egypt’s Arab Spring: The Long and Winding Road to Democracy He is a writer and contributor for over a dozen international outlets, periodicals and networks including Newsmax, OANN, BBC Radio, CSP, MEF, American Spectator, American Thinker, Arab Weekly and Al Arabiya News. A version of this article was originally published by IPT.
The post European Surprise: Switzerland Takes a Hardliner Stance Against Terrorism first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s Sharaa Says Talks With Israel Could Yield Results ‘In Coming Days’
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks at the opening ceremony of the 62nd Damascus International Fair, the first edition held since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, in Damascus, Syria, Aug. 27, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa said on Wednesday that ongoing negotiations with Israel to reach a security pact could lead to results “in the coming days.”
He told reporters in Damascus the security pact was a “necessity” and that it would need to respect Syria’s airspace and territorial unity and be monitored by the United Nations.
Syria and Israel are in talks to reach an agreement that Damascus hopes will secure a halt to Israeli airstrikes and the withdrawal of Israeli troops who have pushed into southern Syria.
Reuters reported this week that Washington was pressuring Syria to reach a deal before world leaders gather next week for the UN General Assembly in New York.
But Sharaa, in a briefing with journalists including Reuters ahead of his expected trip to New York to attend the meeting, denied the US was putting any pressure on Syria and said instead that it was playing a mediating role.
He said Israel had carried out more than 1,000 strikes on Syria and conducted more than 400 ground incursions since Dec. 8, when the rebel offensive he led toppled former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.
Sharaa said Israel’s actions were contradicting the stated American policy of a stable and unified Syria, which he said was “very dangerous.”
He said Damascus was seeking a deal similar to a 1974 disengagement agreement between Israel and Syria that created a demilitarized zone between the two countries.
He said Syria sought the withdrawal of Israeli troops but that Israel wanted to remain at strategic locations it seized after Dec. 8, including Mount Hermon. Israeli ministers have publicly said Israel intends to keep control of the sites.
He said if the security pact succeeds, other agreements could be reached. He did not provide details, but said a peace agreement or normalization deal like the US-mediated Abraham Accords, under which several Muslim-majority countries agreed to normalize diplomatic ties with Israel, was not currently on the table.
He also said it was too early to discuss the fate of the Golan Heights because it was “a big deal.”
Reuters reported this week that Israel had ruled out handing back the zone, which Donald Trump unilaterally recognized as Israeli during his first term as US president.
“It’s a difficult case – you have negotiations between a Damascene and a Jew,” Sharaa told reporters, smiling.
SECURITY PACT DERAILED IN JULY
Sharaa also said Syria and Israel had been just “four to five days” away from reaching the basis of a security pact in July, but that developments in the southern province of Sweida had derailed those discussions.
Syrian troops were deployed to Sweida in July to quell fighting between Druze armed factions and Bedouin fighters. But the violence worsened, with Syrian forces accused of execution-style killings and Israel striking southern Syria, the defense ministry in Damascus and near the presidential palace.
Sharaa on Wednesday described the strikes near the presidential palace as “not a message, but a declaration of war,” and said Syria had still refrained from responding militarily to preserve the negotiations.
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Anti-Israel Activists Gear Up to ‘Flood’ UN General Assembly
US Capitol Police and NYPD officers clash with anti-Israel demonstrators, on the day Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint meeting of Congress, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, DC, July 24, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
Anti-Israel groups are planning a wave of raucous protests in New York City during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) over the next several days, prompting concerns that the demonstrations could descend into antisemitic rhetoric and intimidation.
A coalition of anti-Israel activists is organizing the protests in and around UN headquarters to coincide with speeches from Middle Eastern leaders and appearances by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The demonstrations are expected to draw large crowds and feature prominent pro-Palestinian voices, some of whom have been criticized for trafficking in antisemitic tropes, in addition to calling for the destruction of Israe.
Organizers of the demonstrations have promoted the coordinated events on social media as an opportunity to pressure world leaders to hold Israel accountable for its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, with some messaging framed in sharply hostile terms.
On Sunday, for example, activists shouted at Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon.
“Zionism is terrorism. All you guys are terrorists committing ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza and Palestine. Shame on you, Zionist animals,” they shouted.
BREAKING: PRO-PALESTINE PROTESTORS CONFRONT “ISRAELI” AMBASSADOR DANNY DANON AT THE UNITED NATIONS
1/5 pic.twitter.com/4G1VYEMGzV
— Within Our Lifetime (@WOLPalestine) September 14, 2025
The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), warned on its website that the scale and tone of the planned demonstrations risk crossing the line from political protest into hate speech, arguing that anti-Israel activists are attempting to hijack the UN gathering to spread antisemitism and delegitimize the Jewish state’s right to exist.
Outside the UN last week, masked protesters belonging to the activist group INDECLINE kicked a realistic replica of Netanyahu’s decapitated head as though it were a soccer ball.
US activist group plays soccer with Bibi’s mock decapitated HEAD right outside NYC UN HQ
Peep shot at 00:40
Footage posted by INDECLINE collective just as UN General Assembly about to kick off
‘Following the game, ball was donated to Palestinian Genocide Museum’ pic.twitter.com/TQ84sgZhKr
— RT (@RT_com) September 9, 2025
Within Our Lifetime (WOL), a radical anti-Israel activist group, has vowed to “flood” the UNGA on behalf of the pro-Palestine movement.
WOL, one of the most prolific anti-Israel activist groups, came under immense fire after it organized a protest against an exhibition to honor the victims of the Oct. 7 massacre at the Nova Music Festival in southern Israel. During the event, the group chanted “resistance is justified when people are occupied!” and “Israel, go to hell!”
“We will be there to confront them with the truth: Their silence and inaction enable genocide. The world cannot continue as if Gaza does not exist,” WOL said of its planned demonstrations in New York. “This is the time to make our voices impossible to ignore. Come to New York by any means necessary, to stand, to march, to demand the UN act and end the siege.”
Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), two other anti-Israel organizations that have helped organize widespread demonstrations against the Jewish state during the war in Gaza, also announced they are planning a march from Times Square to the UN headquarters on Friday.
“The time is now for each and every UN member state to uphold their duty under international law: sanction Israel and end the genocide,” the groups said in a statement.
JVP, an organization that purports to fight for “Palestinian liberation,” has positioned itself as a staunch adversary of the Jewish state. The group argued in a 2021 booklet that Jews should not write Hebrew liturgy because hearing the language would be “deeply traumatizing” to Palestinians. JVP has repeatedly defended the Oct. 7 massacre of roughly 1,200 people in southern Israel by Hamas as a justified “resistance.” Chapters of the organization have urged other self-described “progressives” to throw their support behind Hamas and other terrorist groups against Israel
Similarly, PYM, another radical anti-Israel group, has repeatedly defended terrorism and violence against the Jewish state. PYM has organized many anti-Israel protests in the two years following the Oct. 7 attacks in the Jewish state. Recently, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) called for a federal investigation into the organization after Aisha Nizar, one of the group’s leaders, urged supporters to sabotage the US supply chain for the F-35 fighter jet, one of the most advanced US military assets and a critical component of Israel’s defense.
The UN General Assembly has historically been a flashpoint for heated debate over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Previous gatherings have seen dueling demonstrations outside the Manhattan venue, with pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups both seeking to influence the international spotlight.
While warning about the demonstrations, CAM noted it recently launched a new mobile app, Report It, that allows users worldwide to quickly and securely report antisemitic incidents in real time.
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Nina Davidson Presses Universities to Back Words With Action as Jewish Students Return to Campus Amid Antisemitism Crisis
Nina Davidson on The Algemeiner’s ‘J100’ podcast. Photo: Screenshot
Philanthropist Nina Davidson, who served on the board of Barnard College, has called on universities to pair tough rhetoric on combatting antisemitism with enforcement as Jewish students returned to campuses for the new academic year.
“Years ago, The Algemeiner had published a list ranking the most antisemitic colleges in the country. And number one was Columbia,” Davidson recalled on a recent episode of The Algemeiner‘s “J100” podcast. “As a board member and as someone who was representing the institution, it really upset me … At the board meeting, I brought it up and I said, ‘What are we going to do about this?’”
Host David Cohen, chief executive officer of The Algemeiner, explained he had revisited Davidson’s remarks while she was being honored for her work at The Algemeiner‘s 8th annual J100 gala, held in October 2021, noting their continued relevance.
“It could have been the same speech in 2025,” he said, underscoring how longstanding concerns about campus antisemitism, while having intensified in the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, are not new.
Davidson argued that universities already possess the tools to protect students – codes of conduct, time-place-manner rules, and consequences for threats or targeted harassment – but too often fail to apply them evenly. “Statements are not enough,” she said, arguing that institutions need to enforce their rules and set a precedent that there will be consequences for individuals who refuse to follow them.
She also said that stakeholders – alumni, parents, and donors – are reassessing their relationships with schools that, in their view, have not safeguarded Jewish students. While supportive of open debate, Davidson distinguished between protest and intimidation, calling for leadership that protects expression while ensuring campus safety.
The episode surveyed specific pressure points that administrators will face this fall: repeat anti-Israel encampments, disruptions of Jewish programming, and the challenge of distinguishing political speech from conduct that violates university rules. “Unless schools draw those lines now,” Davidson warned, “they’ll be scrambling once the next crisis hits.”
Cohen closed by framing the discussion as a test of institutional credibility, asking whether universities will “turn policy into protection” in real time. Davidson agreed, pointing to students who “need to know the rules aren’t just on paper.”
The full conversation is available on The Algemeiner’s “J100” podcast.