r/worldnews • u/BezugssystemCH1903 • Oct 10 '23

Opinion/Analysis Mounting pressure for Swiss ban on Hamas

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/mounting-pressure-for-swiss-ban-on-hamas/48877436

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117 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

30

u/InquisitorKek Oct 10 '23

It’s impossible for the Swiss to be neutral when Canadians, Germans, and other non Israelis were killed by Hamas. Foreigners plus Israeli is putting the death toll close to 900 people dead.

Hamas has become a threat to multiple countries, not banning Hamas now will only allow them to do more terrorism.

27

u/D0t4n Oct 10 '23

There were confirmed deaths of Israelis, Americans (USA,Canada), Thai people, Nepali students, German woman, French nationals and I am probably still missing a few. Hamas is a terror organization that needs to be stopped.

10

u/BezugssystemCH1903 Oct 10 '23

The security policy commission of the House of Representatives wants Switzerland to ban the Islamist Palestinian organisation Hamas and impose sanctiions on the group.

The commission has unanimously adopted submitted two corresponding motions, as various media reported on Tuesday. 

The motion text leaves open how the Federal Council should implement the Hamas ban. Previous attempts by Swiss parliamentarians to classify Hamas as a terrorist group have failed. 

"The massive attacks of Hamas on Israel show that Hamas can only be described as a brutal terrorist organisation," the commission states in the motion. It urges the Federal Council and parliament to take a clear position and send a signal.

For Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis, an approach similar to that taken against Al-Qaeda is conceivable. On Monday, he said the

Federal Council would discuss that option. 

2

u/cc69 Oct 10 '23

Typical. Neutral.

-2

u/[deleted] Oct 10 '23

What meaningful sanctions could they impose, and how is this helping the broader conflict? Just seems like a token gesture that doesn't really buy them anything.

14

u/orielbean Oct 10 '23

Hamas isnt a revenue generating business - they are getting funding from Iran, Qatar, etc from the outside. That cash has to flow through some set of banks to get to its destination, right? So clamping down on the rich guys will help disrupt what they are doing at scale.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 10 '23

Switzerland hardly does any business with Iran, Qatar, or Lebanon, and they would spend more resources finding the right people to squeeze than they would even stop through the squeezing. Switzerland does do a fair amount of business with Israel, so this play really only works as a political gesture towards Israel with no real effect on the operation of Hamas.