Swiss government considers Hamas a terrorist organisation

A discarded push-chair and items of clothing on the side of the road near Sderot, southern Israel, on Wednesday Keystone / Martin Divisek

The Swiss government believes Palestinian militant group Hamas should be classified as a terrorist organisation. The Middle East taskforce will study the legal options for banning the organisation.

In a statement on Wednesday the government said it “condemns the terrorist acts carried out by Hamas from the Gaza Strip against civilians in Israel in the strongest possible terms and recognises Israel’s legitimate desire to defend itself and safeguard national security”. It called for the immediate release of the Hamas hostages and an immediate end to the violence.

Israel’s death toll rose to 1,200 with over 2,700 wounded, its military said, from the militants’ hours-long rampage after breaching the border fence enclosing Gaza on Saturday. Retaliatory strikes on the blockaded enclave have killed 1,055 people and wounded 5,184, Palestinian officials say. The UN said nine staffers working for the Palestinian refugee agency were among the dead.

The Swiss government reiterated that the civilian population must be protected and international humanitarian law respected at all times.

In order to take concerted action, the government has expanded the Middle East taskforce set up by the foreign ministry. The interior, defence and justice ministries will be represented, as will the Federal Chancellery.

+ Switzerland creates taskforce on Middle East

The foreign ministry will also once again ensure that the funds granted by Switzerland to NGOs in the Middle East do not benefit Hamas.

Switzerland is also offering its services to work towards de-escalation, the government said in its press release.

‘Terrorist attack’

The government is thus following the position expressed on Tuesday by the House of Representative’s Security Policy Committee, which unanimously called for a ban on Hamas. In the past, such a request had been rejected by parliament.

The Islamic State and al-Qaeda, as well as related organisations, are among the groups banned in Switzerland, according to a decision confirmed last autumn by the government.

On Monday Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis raised the possibility of a similar procedure for Hamas to that carried out against al-Qaeda, which is banned by law.

States that classify Hamas as a terrorist organisation include the European Union, the United States and Canada. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, spoke on Wednesday of a “terrorist attack” by Hamas and described it as an “act of war”.

The government’s decision is in line with the position of Israel’s ambassador to Switzerland, Ifat Reshef. In an interview with the Swiss News Agency Keystone-ATS on Wednesday, Reshef said she “sincerely hopes that Switzerland will join the countries that have already designated Hamas as a terrorist organisation”.

Asked about Switzerland’s neutrality, the ambassador said that “being neutral doesn’t mean that you don’t denounce evil when you see it”.

+ Israeli-Palestinian war revives Hamas debate in neutral Switzerland

Third special flight

For its part, SWISS has announced that it will in fact be operating a third special flight from Tel Aviv on Thursday on behalf of the government, contrary to its initial intentions. This 215-seat flight can be booked only via an emergency line provided by the foreign ministry for Swiss citizens abroad and Swiss travellers in Israel. A first special return flight landed in Zurich on Tuesday with 224 people on board, with a second expected on Wednesday evening.

Some 28,000 Swiss nationals are officially registered in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

On Wednesday the foreign ministry indicated that it was carrying out investigations to see if any Swiss nationals or people with dual Swiss-Israeli nationality were among the many victims or missing people.

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