‘Neutral’ No More? Switzerland Takes a Hardliner Stance Against Terrorism

In an apparent reversal of its historically neutral stance, Switzerland has taken steps to combat Islamic terrorism such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

By Hany Ghoraba, The Algemeiner

Historically known for its neutrality, Switzerland maintained decades of politically neutral and pacifist policies towards international conflicts, while seeking world peace as a motto. But even with such a pacifist approach, the country remains a target for Islamism and jihadism, as it witnessed a spike in terrorism activities recently.

Switzerland has taken steps to combat these escalating threats, which appear to some as a reversal of its historically neutral stance, by targeting Islamist terrorists such as Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah.

A Swiss parliamentary committee voted to ban Hamas as terrorist group on October 23rd, and proposed to ban Hezbollah for the same reason. The ban will be ratified by the House of Representatives and Senate in the upcoming winter. The ban would carry up to 20 years in prison for any person joining or aid these organizations.

“It is not accurate to say that Switzerland moved away from a position of neutrality. It still maintains formal neutrality on the issue of conflicts between state actors, although in light of the Russia-Ukraine war, there have been official moves to reconsider that norm” said New York-based lawyer and journalist Irina Tsukerman, who spoke to the Investigative Project on Terrorism.

Swiss security authorities remain on a high alert this year as a result of the mounting terrorism threats by the Islamic State against European countries, according to a statement by Christian Dussey, the director of the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) last August.

The Islamist terrorist group “hadn’t done this for a long time. It’s really given a new impetus to the movement, multiplied by social networks,” said Dussey in an interview for the Switzerland’s Daily Tages Anzieger.

Around 30 arrests have been made across Europe of Islamic State suspects planning attacks in the first eight months of the year alone. Switzerland was not spared by the moves and influence of ISIS. Last March, a 15-year old teenager who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State stabbed a Jewish man in Zurich. The teenager called himself a “Soldier” of the alleged “Caliphate.”

The recent moves by Islamist groups warranted more scrutiny and even an update to the national Swiss counterterrorism strategy that was set in 2015 and updated last May. The updated strategy has enabled more freedoms for the police units in handling terrorism related issues and gives broader definitions for terrorism to combat the new threats.

Switzerland as a Global Private Banking Haven

Switzerland’s global influence stems from being the private banking haven of the world, with over $9.4 trillion dollars in assets as of 2023 held in Swiss banks. Half of these belong to foreign accounts and entities. The code of secrecy for Swiss banks was upheld in 1713, when the Great Council of Geneva established a federal act requiring bankers to maintain a register of all their clients while forbidding the bankers from divulging that information to anyone other than the client.

By 1934, the Banking Act in Switzerland made it a crime to disclose a client’s information to any foreign government, thus cementing the reputation of Switzerland as a tax haven and a trusted global vault. But with three centuries of secrecy came the risk of terrorist and global crime networks exploitation of the Swiss banking system through money-laundering schemes. This prompted the country to join a number of international organizations to fight these illicit activities including the G8-affiliated Counter-Terrorism Action Group (CTAG).

However, Tsukerman believes it will be no easy task to weed out terrorism-affiliated accounts and funding.

“Clearing out Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist funding is not going to be easy. The first step is to finalize laws banning the organizations, and to establish that particular accounts are traceable to the terrorists. Likewise, shell organizations, NGOs, and corporate entities, and even individual accounts linked to the network, need to be investigated.”

Nevertheless, Switzerland is looking firmer this time around to freeze all terrorist related assets in the country to prevent funding international organizations that could be utilized for terrorism even if they carry the United Nations label such as the controversial UNRWA.

The Swiss National Council passed a motion on September 10th to cut funding to the organization for alleged cooperation with Hamas. According to The Jerusalem Post, David Zuberbühler, a member of the Swiss National Council who introduced the legislation, was prevented along with a parliamentary delegation from accessing educational material used by UNRWA during a visit to Bethlehem in January 2023. This happened despite the fact that access to educational materials was agreed upon prior to the delegation visit.

“In UNRWA schools, children are taught to hate Jews and Israel. If terrorism is glorified, anti-Semitism is stoked and violence is incited in UNRWA schools, then one should not ask why a cruel act of terror like that of October 7 could have occurred,” stated Zuberbühler in the interview.

Switzerland vehemently condemned both the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and Hezbollah attacks that started a day later. The Swiss stance against both groups targeting civilians was clear from the early stages.

Moreover, despite supporting a two-state solution as means of a final step of resolving Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Switzerland abstained from voting for a full membership for a Palestinian state in the United Nations last April. The Swiss government believes that it can support a Palestinian state only in case of a peace in the region.

“At the present time” the admission of Palestine would “not be conducive” to détente and peace efforts in the Middle East said a statement for the Swiss Foreign ministry.

“Switzerland is of the opinion that it would be better to admit Palestine as a full member of the UN at a time when such a step will fit into the logic of an emerging peace” mentioned the statement.

The Swiss House of Representatives reiterated the same position in June and rejected a motion by the Social Democratic Party to recognize an independent Palestinian State.

New Security and Terrorism Threats

Switzerland overlooked the danger of Hamas for decades and hasn’t felt the urge to ban the group in the past, but the situation changed dramatically following the October 7 attacks, which manifested the danger of the terrorist group. Two Swiss citizens were killed in the attack, among the 1,200 Israeli and other nationalities who were slain that day.

Switzerland has long been targeted by Islamist groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, in efforts to promote the Islamization of the country.

Swiss lawmakers were forced to move from their complacent stance of the past decades to a more proactive one given the impending threats to their country and its neighbors.

“The scale and the extensive planning of the October 7 attack may have been the wake-up call for Europe; many international citizens came to harm in addition to the Israelis as a result, and the Hamas call for global action likewise had a chilling effect on decision makers in Switzerland and elsewhere,” said Tsukerman.

Outside of the counter-terrorism precautions, Switzerland signed a declaration to join the European Sky Shield initiative, which was formed as a precaution following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The system was initiated by Germany, and is designed to allow European countries to buy unified air-defense systems and conduct joint exercises.

“There is a direct connection between Switzerland’s shifting stand towards defensive posture with regards to Russia’s threat to Europe and an openness to tougher counterterrorism action. The reality is that Russia is one of the leading originators of modern terrorism, which started with political terror during the Czarist era,” said Tsukerman.

The escalating situation in Ukraine along with threats from Islamic States and their ilk, in the form of Hamas and Hezbollah, have forced the Swiss to rethink their passive neutral stance into a more positive neutrality based in reality rather than wishful thinking. No one can predict how far the Swiss will go with their counter-terrorism efforts.

“As Samuel Ramani recently wrote in the Telegraph on November 6th, it is only a matter of time before serious Russian attacks rock Europe,” said Tsukerman.

The Swiss are finally practicing realpolitik more than any time in their modern history, thanks to the new realities and terrorism threats that surround the peaceful central European country.

Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) Senior Fellow Hany Ghoraba is an Egyptian writer, political and counter-terrorism analyst at Al Ahram Weekly and a regular contributor the BBC. He is the author of Egypt’s Arab Spring: The Long and Winding Road to Democracy He is a writer and contributor for over a dozen international outlets, periodicals and networks including Newsmax, OANN, BBC Radio, CSP, MEF, American Spectator, American Thinker, Arab Weekly and Al Arabiya News.