Switzerland bans Hamas and Hezbollah

Switzerland’s parliament has voted to outlaw Hezbollah and Hamas in a rare decision for the neutral country, banning the terrorist organisations just over a week apart from one another.

On 11 December, the Swiss Senate and House of Representatives accepted a government proposal drawn up in response to the October 7 attack by Hamas which sought to ban the terrorist group for an initial period of five years with the option of extending according to legislative procedure. On 17 December, the Swiss parliament voted to outlaw the Lebanese Islamist group Hezbollah as well, with proponents of the motion calling the organisation a threat to international security.

The Swiss government opposed the ban against Hezbollah, but it passed the lower house with 126 votes in favour, 20 against and 41 abstentions.

It will be up to the Federal Council to decide on the exact date of the bans’ implementation. Currently, the only groups outlawed in Switzerland are Al-Qaeda and Islamic State.

The European Jewish Congress commented on the vote, writing on X: “We welcome the Swiss Federal Council and Parliament's decision to adopt a law banning Hamas and associated organizations.

“This sends a strong message of zero tolerance toward terrorist activities aimed at harming the State of Israel and Jewish communities. This decision, taken 14 months after the horrific October 7th massacre, aligns Switzerland with many nations that have already designated, sanctioned or outlawed Hamas. It honors the memory of Hamas’s countless victims and contributes to the safety of Switzerland, Europe and the Middle East. We call on all countries who have not done it yet to follow suit.”

The decision comes amid around the time of several antisemitic incidents in Zurich last weekend, with Jewish residents in the suburb of Zurich-Wiedikon reporting physical attacks and verbal abuse.

“Five different incidents were reported to us,” said Jonathan Kreutner, Secretary General of the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (SIG). “Such a spate of physical attacks on Jewish people, where we have to assume, at least in part, that they only took place because the people were Jewish, is worrying and unusual.”

Last year, the Intercommunity Coordination Against Antisemitism and Defamation recorded 944 antisemitic incidents in French-speaking Switzerland, 70 per cent more than in 2022.