by Yitzhak Meir
As one who has served as the Israeli Ambassador in Switzerland, I am incapable of understanding, nor do I wish to understand, that an organization, albeit currently a small one, can stick on buses in Swiss Cities, yellow patches that attempt to purport to say we are not yellow, that ‘Jew’ is not the word written on it, but rather the word ‘Muslim’, and that the star in it is not the Magen David but an octagonal star.
On August 15, posters and announcements appeared in the picturesque and wonderful City of Lausanne which is on the banks of Lake Geneva, containing graphics that arouse forbidden associations. Within the yellow patch at the heart of the eight pointed, and not six-pointed, Magen David, the word MUSLIM is written.
The association of JUDE or in French-speaking Lausanne, Juif, catches the eye. A date, October 29, 2011, is written under the patch, and a place name, the Federal Capital, BERNE. The signatories are The Swiss Central Islamic Council (CCIS) which is calling for a public and mass demonstration, if possible in Parliament Square, against “Racism and Islamophobia”.
There are about 400,000 Moslems (approximately 5% of the population) in Switzerland, more than half of them being originally from the Balkan Countries, refugees from the break-up of the former Yugoslavia.
Some eight nationwide organizations and several local canton organizations are representing this section of the public in terms of religion and social affairs. “The Central Islamic Council”, which is calling for a demonstration against the Swiss Government for ignoring the national religious and social needs of those of the Islamic faith, is the youngest of them, and perhaps clearly the most militant of them. It was founded on October 25, 2009 but marks this date in its official publications as 6 Dhu al-Qada 1430, in other words closely following the Islamic method of counting of dates based on the Hajira. This organization, unites within it on a nationwide basis, 13 organizations numbering, according to its statements, about 2,000 members, and is financed according to its statements, by a group of supporters that it refers to as passive “friends” supporting it with resources and ideological encouragement.
The demonstration is intended to arouse Swiss public opinion as to the hostile or distant attitude of the Swiss authorities to its Moslem citizens and residents. A spokesman of the organization who responded to criticism leveled mainly, but not only, by Jewish groups, stated that the organization believes that Moslems in Switzerland are suffering from a policy of repression and restrictions on their freedoms that are similar to and a reminder of the harsh measures taken against the Jews before the Holocaust. “We have no access to the renting of apartments, to places of employment, our girls are forbidden to wear the Hidjab at school, we are forbidden to build minarets to say nothing of the negative stereotypes contained in reports in the Swiss press when referring to Muslims”.
Nobody should hesitate to withhold condemnation of any use of the Holocaust for religious-political ideological purposes and so forth. This is too often done in various and diverse arenas and it has within it more than just a recycling of incitement that must be kept locked up behind the closed doors of history. An image of ostensible identification with victims of such incitement prepares the ground for incitement right here and now. It is a lie, it is cynical and it is immoral.
Faint hearts who are afraid to openly accuse ruling circles of acts similar in content to those perpetrated by the Nazis, do so by representing themselves as victims in a similar way to the Jewish victims of the Nazis. The yellow patches in today’s demonstration is vicious incitement and unforgivably points an accusing finger at the State, its Government and its indigenous population, Switzerland in this case.
It is difficult to understand why it is that up until now the Federal Government has not responded to this militant provocation. It is the address to which the organization’s rage is directed. It is the State which is being called upon to take the blame for the repression of a religious population group that is not Christian, and which allegedly resembles the terrible repression of European and World regimes.
As one who has served as the Ambassador of Israel in Switzerland, I am incapable of understanding, nor do I wish to understand that an organization, albeit currently a small one, can stick on buses in Swiss Cities, yellow patches that attempt to purport to say we are not yellow, that ‘Jew’ is not written on it but rather ‘Muslim’ and that the star in it is not the Magen david but an octagonal star. I am not one of those that frequently issues warnings that ignoring a transgression of small dimensions will lead to greater problems in future which will startle the world. There is some truth in this but I am not getting involved in this issue.
I am concerned with the thought about the dimensions of what is actually going on today. Tolerance of Jewish Holocaust survival in order to accuse Switzerland of preparing the ground for a Muslim Holocaust is already out of all proportion. There is no point in waiting as it is already happening. I am convinced that Switzerland, which prohibits Holocaust denial and incitement, will be called upon to examination closely whether or not a demonstration that crosses the line, like the presently intended demonstration, should be allowed to proceed, and also, whether or not preparation to hold it in Berne, if is not stopped in October, is within the definition of incitement and a breach of the Law.
It may well be that among the policy makers, there are elected officials or persons who are scared of confrontations in which they are likely to be accused of infringing freedom of speech and freedom of association. The nurturing of such a fear was always, and will always be, one of the most effective weapons in the hands of the law breakers.
As a friend of Switzerland, and as one who, despite its policy during the Second World War, found shelter there and has a great respect for the moral courage of the love of freedoms that inspires it, I call on the Swiss Ambassador in Israel to press the Swiss Government to take a stand against a blatant propagandist organization of such an extent and nature. I am also doing so, as one who sees himself as sworn to always, and anywhere, and under all conditions, to stand up and be counted against those who in a big way cast doubts on the failure of mankind and in the immensity of its sins against humanity and against the Jewish people, and to do all that is in my power to ensure that the use made by individuals of theolocaustHolhhh Holocaust shall be solely in order to perpetuate its unique memory.
