Swiss Jews, Will You Heed the Latest Warning?

ט׳ לחודש התשעי תשע״ה

There had been a lot of buzz, leading up to yesterday's referendum in Switzerland, including from The Jewish Libertarian.

The referendum failed, which definitely has implications for Swiss Jews.

Zero Hedge: Swiss Gold Referendum Fails: 78% Vote Against "Protecting The Country's Wealth"
Tyler Durden, November 30, 2014

Whether as a result of an unprecedented scare campaign by the Swiss National Bank (most recently reinforced by Citigroup), or due to confidence that Swiss gold is as safe abroad as it is at home, or simply due to good old-fashioned "hanging chads", today's most awaited event has come and gone and the result - according to early projections by Swiss television SRF - is that the Swiss population overwhelmingly rejected a referendum to force the Swiss National Bank to hold some 20% of its reserves in gold in a landslide vote, with about 78% voting against what AP politely termed "protecting the country's wealth by investing in gold." (cont.)

So, what does this have to do with the price of tea in China? Or, for that matter, the safety of Swiss Jews?

Forbes: The Swiss Vote Against Hoarding Gold And Capping Immigration
Frances Coppola, November 30, 2014

It was a near thing. Well, not very near, actually. Zero Hedge reports that not a single Swiss canton voted in favour of Ecopop’s insane scheme.

The scheme had three components:

The Swiss central bank was to be forced to hold 20% of its reserves in gold and would be prevented from ever selling any. All Swiss gold held abroad was to be physically repatriated to Switzerland.

There would be a strict limit on immigration set at 0.2% of the resident population, or about 16,000 people

Tax breaks for wealthy foreigners who live in Switzerland but do not work there would be ended.

At first sight, these proposals don’t seem to be connected. But they are. They all add up to the same thing. Switzerland was to protect its wealth, land, environment, public services [tick all that apply] from foreigners.

This is a Swiss nationalist agenda, similar to the nationalist agendas of other fringe parties in Europe such as the UK’s UKIP. We are seeing a significant rise in nationalism across the whole of Europe at the moment.

Growth of nationalism in Eurozone periphery countries is perhaps understandable: unemployment there is at Depression-era levels and there is no end in sight to the interminable austerity imposed by their paymasters in Brussels. (cont.)

Esser Agaroth (2¢):
When in doubt, blame nationalism....

...(Forbes) So the overwhelming decision by the people of Switzerland not to close their borders and hoard their wealth will come as a huge relief to several groups of people.

Well, one group of people, in particular, comes to mind. Although, European Jews are threaten by nationalism, they are threatened by lenient immigration laws as well. After all, who is immigrating to Europe? Muslims.

In 1683, Muslims were pushed back, preventing them from taking Vienna. However, now, the Muslims have long since taken another strategy. Playing on the European's political-correctness and naivete, Muslims have been pouring into Europe, without having to pass through the gates of Vienna.

Getting beaten up from both sides will seem like children joking around on the playground, when the Jews truly get stuck between the Muslim sleepers and newcomers on one side, and the Nationalists on the other.

Of course, in traditional Muslim and European fashion, it will the "Jews' fault."

It reminds me of my grandmother's recounting of her pre-WWI childhood in Galecia (Southern Poland): The Kaiser's forces storming across her parents farm one day, and the Cossacks storming across it in the opposite direction the next day.

Only this time, Europe will become even more of a nightmare.

Here are just a few examples from Switzerland's recent past, of which Jews should expect a repeat performance. All I hear from Swiss Jews is how expensive it is to live there, not to mention the lousy job market. In addition, Shehitah (kosher slaughter) has been banned in Switzerland since 1893, forcing Jews to important kosher meat.

I have absolutely no idea why they insist on remaining there.

Let's hope that they heed the latest warning, and pick up and move to their true homeland.

JTA: Fires Strike Synagogue, Store in Resort Town in Switzerland
JTA and Peter Ephross, March 16, 2005

This week’s fires in a synagogue and a Jewish-owned clothing store here are being called rare acts of anti-Semitic violence in Switzerland. “This kind of violence against Jewish institutions in Switzerland is new. Nobody remembers a similar act,” said Thomas Lyssy, a spokesman for the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities.

Police are investigating both cases of suspected arson. Both fires were set on Sunday night and the leader of the local Jewish community said both were acts of anti-Semitism.

The mayor of the city, Giorgio Giudici, condemned the attacks.

The fire at the synagogue in the resort town near the Italian border caused considerable damage, destroying the library before firefighters put it out.

The store was completely destroyed, Etti Stein told JTA from Los Angeles.

Stein’s sister, Pagit Schreiber, lives in Lugano. Her in-laws own the store.

“She’s very, very upset,” Stein said.

Hans Stutz of the Foundation Against Racism and Anti-Semitism told the Swiss Telegraphic Agency that this was the first fire set in a Swiss synagogue in the last 25 years.

But synagogues have been smeared with anti-Semitic slogans and swastikas: in Lausanne in April 2003, in Geneva in February 1998 and in Lugano in 1996. The worst anti-Semitic incident occurred in 2001 in Zurich, when a rabbi was stabbed by an unknown assailant.

Eli Bollag, the chairman of the Jewish community in Lugano and a member of the City Council, said that he was sad and angry over the fires: sad about the stupidity that lies at the origins of the fires and angry at the cowardice of the perpetrators, who chose to attack such a small Jewish community.

Orthodox Jews have lived in Lugano since World War I. At the end of World War II, the city was home to more than 1,000 refugees.

There are now only about two dozen members of Lugano’s Jewish community, and about 500 Jews in the region.