The SIG publishes a Report on Antisemitism every year in collaboration with the GRA Foundation Against Racism and Antisemitism. The report compiles and analyses occurrences of antisemitic incidents in the German, Italian and Romansh-speaking regions of Switzerland. Incidents are reported to the SIG via the form on its website, or by phone or e-mail. The SIG records other incidents by actively monitoring the media, internet and social media. To evaluate and analyse the individual cases, the SIG refers to the definition of antisemitism and illustrative examples provided by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance IHRA.
During the reporting year, the SIG recorded 57 antisemitic incidents in the German, Italian and Romansh language areas of Switzerland (not including online incidents).
This represents a slight increase from the previous year (2021: 53). They included one physical assault, 16 cases of verbal abuse and nine cases of offensive graffiti. 853 incidents were recorded online, primarily on social media and in the comment sections of media outlets (an increase of around 6%). In total, this amounted to 910 incidents reported and observed within the examination period (2021: 859).
The recorded incidents (real world and online) were divided into four categories: general antisemitism (308 incidents), Shoah denial or trivialization (46), antisemitism related to Israel (58) and current antisemitic conspiracy theories (498).
In previous years, antisemitic incidents often occurred due to “triggers”. Triggers are international or national events, including media reports, that cause a spike in the number of antisemitic incidents for a limited period (usually a few days). This has changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the monitoring of Telegram groups. There have been and currently are two long-term triggers that directly or indirectly produce incidents of antisemitism on an ongoing basis: Covid and the war in Ukraine. This has also further increased the proportion of current antisemitic conspiracy theories among the total of online incidents. They accounted for 51% of online incidents in 2021, which increased to 57% in 2022.
