Switzerland could well cut funding to the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA). This is what the 200 deputies of the National Council – the lower house of the Federal Assembly – who were debating the 2024 confederal budget voted for on Monday, December 11. To respect the debt brake criteria, elected officials proposed to eliminate certain expenses.
Among them, reports the Swiss daily Le Temps, the 20 million Swiss Francs (more than 21 million euros) annual contribution to UNRWA. The proposal was approved by 116 votes to 78. The latter came from David Zuberbühler, elected from the SVP, a populist right-wing party opposed to immigration and eurosceptic. The latter won the elections to the National Council last October with nearly 30% of the votes and consolidated its position as the leading Swiss political party, far ahead of the Socialist Party. The measure could be confirmed by the upper house of parliament, the House of States, on Thursday December 14.
“It is an open secret that in UNRWA schools we continue to advocate terrorism, incite violence and promote anti-Semitism,” explains David Zuberbühler, member of the Switzerland-Israel parliamentary group. A majority of the National Council finally recognized this (…). As the Federal Council and Parliament have looked the other way for a long time, even too long, there is certainly no reason to rejoice, but I am nevertheless naturally very satisfied with this decision.”
UNRWA, created in 1949 and almost entirely financed by voluntary contributions from UN member states, is regularly blamed for its lack of effectiveness and suspected by Israel of giving pride of place to Hamas propaganda. In December 2022, the Swiss Federal Council, despite criticism, continued its financial support for the organization. Only its financing method was modified, to be renewed every two years instead of every four years, to the tune of 20 million per year. “In the absence of a political solution to the conflict, UNRWA retains its raison d’être and remains a factor of stability. The Office has been and remains an essential multilateral organization for Switzerland in the Middle East,” it was even written in a Federal Council report of October 2020.
In the same document, however, the deputies listed the “frequently” criticisms addressed to the institution. Among them, the “attachment” to the right of return and the obstacle to “the development of political solutions”. A paragraph is then devoted to accusations of anti-Semitism. “Since the 1960s, the school textbooks used have incited hatred against Israel. NGOs regularly publish reports of books in which the term ‘Israel’ does not appear and which contain maps on which Israel is not even included.
“The walls of UNRWA-funded schools are adorned with revolutionary slogans and symbols, and demonstrations are named after young terrorists. Calls for hatred and murder were also allegedly disseminated on social networks by teachers and UNRWA collaborators,” add the editors. Finally, the report adds, “UNRWA has regularly been accused of being linked to Hamas and terrorist groups.”
The former director of the Swiss Directorate for Development and Cooperation in Palestine, Mario Carera, told Le Temps that it was “a slap in the face for the Federal Council”. “Even if UNRWA needs to be reformed, cutting its funding is an aberrant decision,” he adds. Without UNRWA, we must understand that it will be worse.”
On the left, the reactions are of the same ilk. “It is, to say the least, unusual to cut off collaboration with an organization, especially a UN organization, on the simple basis of unconfirmed accusations even though the needs for Palestinian civilians have never been so high,” he said. au Temps Nicolas Walder, national advisor for the Greens. For his part, Socialist State Councilor Carlo Sommaruga denounced a “politically irresponsible choice (…) simply incomprehensible and contrary to Switzerland’s humanitarian commitment”.
On X, the Italian-Swiss president of UNRWA said he was “discouraged” by the decision of the National Council. In the Gaza Strip, controlled by Hamas, 85% of the 2.4 million inhabitants have been displaced since October 7 and the Israeli response to the attack by the terrorist group which left 1,200 dead according to the Hebrew authorities. The Palestinians are experiencing “hell on earth,” added Philippe Lazzarini in another publication.
The Israeli offensive in Gaza, air and then land from October 27, cost the lives of more than 18,400 people, the vast majority women and children, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
