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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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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.