Israel, the UN and Switzerland
Without the United Nations, Israel would not exist in its present form. For it was the UN that decided on November 29, 1947, to establish a Jewish and an Arab state on the territory of the rest of Palestine (the Kingdom of Jordan had already been split off from the original territory).
Since then, however, the UN’s relationship with Israel has changed fundamentally under the influence of global political developments. Both in the UN General Assembly and in the controversial UN Human Rights Council, Israel is constantly pilloried, while unjust states such as North Korea, Iran, Russia, Afghanistan and Venezuela largely get off scot-free due to the majority and veto rights that prevail in the UN today. Hamas’ war crimes have also gone unmentioned in various UN announcements and resolutions since the massacre of the Israeli civilian population on October 7, 2023. It was not until around four months after this event, at the end of January 2024, that a UN delegation arrived in Israel to investigate the sexual crimes and violations committed by Hamas terrorists against the women abducted on October 7, 2023. Despite its declarations of neutrality, Switzerland usually sides with Israel’s opponents in UN votes. Only recently have the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) and the Grand Chamber of the Swiss Parliament, the National Council, begun to reconsider their position and act accordingly. In addition to the Hamas massacre on 7 October 2023, this was due to intelligence reports that many employees of the UN Palestinian Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), as well as employees of other Palestinian NGOs supported by Switzerland, are close to terrorist organizations such as Hamas or the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
