From the Shoah…
During the Second World War, Switzerland collaborated with Nazi Germany. It sold arms, dual-use goods, and electricity (to industries focused on the war effort) to Germany. It agreed to exchange gold stolen in Europe for Swiss francs (money laundering). It accepted Germany stamping a ‘J’ on the passports of its Jewish citizens to facilitate their identification and refuse their entry into the Confederation’s territory. All this, knowing that Jews were starved to death in ghettos, shot, or deported to extermination camps where they were gassed.
… to Gaza
Today, Switzerland collaborates with Israel in cultural, economic, scientific, and military fields. Arms and dual-use goods are sold to and bought from this country, knowing that it commits the crime of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. In the Gaza Strip, Palestinians are displaced to narrow territories where they are starved to death, shot, or bombed.
Today, international law subjects all states to certain obligations aimed at preventing such crimes and punishing their perpetrators. As the depositary of the Geneva Conventions, Switzerland has even broader obligations. But it is not fulfilling them. History repeats itself. We do not accept it.
Stop Complicity aims for Switzerland to respect its legal obligations under international law, particularly international humanitarian law. The Association is independent and has no ties to any political or religious entity.
Are We Antisemitic?
In an open letter, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu accused the President of the French Republic, Mr. Emmanuel Macron, of antisemitism. The latter responded with a letter that was also made public (it was published on August 26, 2025, by Le Monde newspaper). We identify with Mr. Macron’s words.
“Dear Mr. Prime Minister,”
I have received your letter of August 17, which you decided to make public even before I received it. That is why my response, in parallel, will also be made public for the clarity of our discussions, but for my part, I wanted to let you know, and I will wait for you to have read it; that is basic courtesy.
The fight against antisemitism cannot be a subject of instrumentalization and cannot fuel any disagreement between Israel and France.
As one of the first actions taken after my election, I made a point, in the tragic setting of the Vel’ d’Hiv [the ceremony took place at Place des Martyrs-Juifs-du-Vélodrome-d’Hiver (15th arrondissement of Paris)], on July 16, 2017, to solemnly endorse – and you had wished to be by my side that day – the definition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which condemns anti-Zionism as antisemitism. It was the first time a French President had gone so far, and I fully stand by it. The protection of our Jewish compatriots against the rise of antisemitism has been an absolute priority of my actions since day one. This responsibility falls to France, and all state services are committed to it. It cannot be subject to any manipulation at a time when we are facing the instrumentalization of a conflict that does not belong to France but weighs on its national cohesion and the security of our citizens.
While I promulgated the law proposed by the Senate on the fight against antisemitism in higher education last July 31, while we held the antisemitism conferences from February to April, while France dedicated 15,000 police officers to protect community gathering places after October 7, and while police and volunteers mobilized for the security of Israeli athletes and tourists during last summer’s Olympic and Paralympic Games, these accusations of inaction against a scourge we are fighting with all our might are unacceptable and offend all of France.
History teaches us that wherever antisemitism tries to take root, all forms of racism and hatred flourish with it. It is in the name of this lesson that the French Republic has been the tireless enemy of antisemitism since the Revolution of 1789. Consequently, no one can doubt, if they are acting in good faith, that I remain and will remain a guarantor of the imperative necessity to combat this abomination, everywhere and always. And it would be a mistake to explain, or even justify, antisemitism in France by the decisions I may have taken. The antisemitism in our country comes from afar, has long been nurtured by the far-right, and is today also fueled by the far-left, which essentializes the Jewish community and supports hatred against it. Any antisemitism is a betrayal of the Republic and its universalism.
But the IHRA definition cannot absolve Israel of the policies it is currently pursuing in Gaza and the rest of the Palestinian territories. We have serious disagreements, but, faithful to the friendship that binds France and the people of Israel, I have made a point of maintaining the closest dialogue with you, a dialogue founded on our unwavering commitment to Israel’s right to exist and to security.
Our determination that the Palestinian people should have a state is rooted in our conviction that lasting peace is essential for the security of the State of Israel, for its full regional integration in a Middle East finally at peace, and for a logic of normalization that we support and which must be brought to fruition as quickly as possible. This lasting peace will come through the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state, recognizing Israel and its right to security, demilitarized, living in peace alongside you.
In no case does this dual conviction reflect any complacency allowing Hamas or other terrorist groups to use such a state to threaten your country in the future. The Palestinian state must constitute the end of Hamas. We are convinced, after nearly two years of Israeli operations in Gaza, that this is today the only way to truly eradicate Hamas and prevent Israeli youth from being consumed by a permanent war, devastating for the Palestinians of Gaza, but also for Israel and the entire region.
To achieve this, we, along with Saudi Arabia, gathered in New York last July 28 and 29, a great many Arab, Western, and other governments, who expressed their readiness to get involved in a strategy for the day after, including assuming transitional security responsibilities in the Gaza Strip within the framework of a stabilization mission, supporting and contributing to the disarmament of terrorist groups starting with Hamas, helping to renew viable Palestinian governance, free from Hamas’s grip, and rebuilding a territory now devastated.
This commitment is unprecedented. It stems from our indignation at an appalling humanitarian disaster in Gaza that nothing can justify. It also stems from the conviction that a massive exodus of Gazans driven by famine and violence, in addition to the moral indignity it represents, will have direct and lasting effects on regional and international security, including that of Israel and Europe. Above all, it results from an unprecedented collective will to see lasting peace emerge in a Middle East where Israel has largely contributed over the past two years to reducing another threat, that of Iran. Read later
This readiness to contribute to the post-war effort in Gaza is accompanied by the resolve to proceed similarly with the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories and to transform them into a separate, demilitarized, and reformed state that will live in peace alongside you. A Palestinian state where hatred of the other will have no place, whether in education or other policies implemented. We are prepared to be collectively accountable for the commitments made in New York, as well as by President Abbas in his letter of June 9, 2025. Read later
This path is difficult, but it gives Israel a powerful and new hand in its future: extended normalization across the Muslim world; the end of the permanent conflict that has affected your people before and since the founding of the State of Israel; the end of a serious degradation of Israel’s moral image, which has become the pretext and driving force for a new antisemitism that we must combat globally.
This commitment is unprecedented, and I call on you not to dismiss it out of hand, in the name of our friendship with the people of Israel.
Mr. Prime Minister,
Today, your government has decided on a new phase of the offensive leading to the reoccupation of Gaza. I am convinced, and I share this conviction with these many partners, that such a measure would impact the lives of the Israeli people for decades to come, would impose an unbearable cost on your Palestinian neighbors, and would contribute to missing the historic opportunity available to you, as the Prime Minister who has led Israel’s destiny for the longest period in its history, as well as to the Israeli people, to emerge from the battle Israel is currently losing, to win the battle for peace. This is the opportunity to transform the military gains Israel has achieved in regional arenas into a lasting political victory for its security and prosperity.
The United States, Qatar, and Egypt have tirelessly worked to achieve a ceasefire for the release of all hostages. This is our priority. France lost more than 50 of its children during the October 7 pogrom. Three French hostages did not survive. Thinking of all of them, of the Bibas family and the Davids today, of the pain and suffering of so many families still awaiting the return of their loved ones, and of all the pain endured by Gazans, my conviction is that acting with humanity and courage to end this war constitutes our collective duty, and the only realistic path. We offer you a credible path forward, engaging for the international community and regional partners, who will be there for peace. It is your responsibility to seize it.
The occupation of Gaza, the forced displacement of Palestinians, their reduction to famine, the hateful dehumanization of discourse, the annexation of the West Bank, will never offer victory to Israel. On the contrary, they will strengthen your country’s isolation, fuel those who find a pretext for antisemitism there, and endanger Jewish communities worldwide. Palestinians will not disappear from the land where they also have their roots, and no one sees what path would then open for Israel’s vocation to remain a great democracy and the national home of Jewishness to be realized. In a word, these measures will give victory to those who refuse for Israel to be recognized as the friend, reliable ally, and trusted partner it is meant to be and that we wish it to be.
France cannot resign itself to seeing a friendly country thus plunge into a surge of violence contrary to its history, its origins, and its democratic essence, and turn its back on the possibility that history offers it today. I cannot resign myself to it and once again propose to you, as a faithful friend, to work together, with all international partners, for lasting peace for you, your people, and the entire region. A credible framework for exiting the crisis in Gaza is within reach. A permanent ceasefire is within reach. What other path do you offer today to your allies and your people?
The barbaric images of Israeli hostage Evyatar David reminded the world, if there was any need, that Hamas should never again pose a threat to Israel nor play a role in the future governance of Gaza and the Palestinian territories. With this infamous video, the terrorist group continues what it has constantly done for the past two years: deeply wound the Jewish soul, thereby offending all of us alongside you, prolonging the ordeal of the hostages and their families, and keeping the people of Gaza in unimaginable suffering. By acting in this way, it also seeks to push you to make irreversible decisions that will only serve its survival and ideological grip and will plunge Israel into a future of war that you today have the possibility and historic opportunity to avoid.
France will always be a friend to Israel and the Palestinians, and it is in this capacity, Mr. Prime Minister, that we will continue our action for peace and security for all.
It is in this capacity, Mr. Prime Minister, that I solemnly call on you to abandon the murderous and illegal headlong rush into a permanent war in Gaza that exposes your country to indignity and your people to a dead end, to cease the illegal and unjustifiable recolonization of the West Bank, and to seize the outstretched hand of international partners willing to work towards a future of peace, security, and prosperity for Israel and the region.”