Mayor Corine Mauch is under criticism for statements made about UNRWA in the city parliament.
Zurich’s mayor has to deal with critical letters after the holidays.
Karin Hofer / NZZ
The federal government wants to reduce Switzerland’s contribution to the controversial UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) from 20 to 10 million francs. Zurich’s left-wing parties are now demanding that the city step in and donate a substantial amount to the organization.
The request was controversially discussed in the last session of the city parliament before the summer holidays. The left-wing majority referred a motion to the city council for review. Mayor Corine Mauch (SP) stressed that any donation would be made in the spirit of humanitarian aid and should not be understood as taking sides in the Middle East conflict.
For the Zurich FDP, however, it is clear that such a donation would amount to the city interfering in the federal government’s foreign policy. Group leader Michael Schmid called the Left’s initiative an “usurpation of power.”
The Liberals have now drawn conclusions. As Schmid confirmed in response to a request from the NZZ, the party has approached the district council and the governor. “We are convinced that the Left’s plan is unconstitutional,” he says. The city council can provide humanitarian aid, says Schmid, but not to UNRWA as a replacement for the federal funds that have been cut.
Resistance to the left’s plan to support UNRWA is growing, and not only in politics. The Swiss-Israel Association and representatives of the Jewish population are also strongly criticizing this – because UNRWA has come under pressure. At the center of this are accusations by Israel that the aid agency employs Hamas members. In addition, the UN aid agency terminated its cooperation with nine employees. An internal UN investigation found clear evidence that these UNRWA employees had been involved in the Hamas massacre on October 7.
Another investigation resulted in the so-called Colonna report. This dealt with UNRWA’s neutrality mechanisms. The independent panel of experts did not identify any major deficiencies. However, the report also contains a comprehensive catalogue of measures. It stipulates that the organization should monitor its employees more closely.
An “unsustainable and insensitive trivialization”
André Golliez is a member of the Israelite Community of Zurich. “As a concerned resident of the city of Zurich,” he expressed his helplessness in a personal letter to the mayor. The letter is available to the NZZ. The fact that UNRWA, whose collaboration with Hamas has been clearly proven, should be supported with funds is a slap in the face for Zurich’s Jews.
Hamas not only intends to destroy Israel, but also to wipe out all Jewish life, writes Golliez. This plan should also be taken seriously in Zurich, as was shown a few months ago with the anti-Semitic knife attack on Brandschenkestrasse. At that time, a young IS supporter critically injured an Orthodox Jew.
Golliez writes that as a Jew he is left with “only one possible interpretation: the situation, the threat and the emotional state of the Jewish population of the city of Zurich are obviously of no interest to the municipal and city council.”
The exposed and threatening situation of Zurich’s Jews was completely ignored in the debate in the city parliament, according to the letter to the mayor. Addressed directly to Corine Mauch, he writes: “In fact, you yourself have placed anti-Semitism and Islamophobia on the same level in your vote.”
After the developments of the last few months, this abstract equation represents an “untenable and insensitive trivialization” of the threat facing Jews in Zurich. “How many Muslims have been stabbed in Zurich in the last few months for ‘Islamophobic’ reasons?” asks Golliez. “Which Muslim shops and establishments have had ‘Islamophobic’ slogans sprayed on them? And finally: at which demonstrations in Zurich was the destruction of all Arab and Muslim countries demanded?”
«Defensive claim» or «stupid excuse»
Walter Blum, Central Secretary of the Switzerland-Israel Association, shares André Golliez’s assessment. Since it has become clear that Israel’s accusations against UNRWA employees are not unfounded, it can no longer be said that the organization has been exonerated of the most serious accusations. “A donation to UNRWA would be tantamount to taking sides in the Middle East conflict,” stresses Blum.
Blum finds the left’s narrative that UNRWA is the only organization with the necessary capacity to provide aid in the Gaza Strip untenable. “That is either a defensive claim or an excuse,” he concludes. Instead, he suggests, for example, the UN’s World Food Programme or the “Chefs in Gaza” campaign by the non-governmental organization World Central Kitchen.
The fact is that the left-wing parties are theoretically open to the possibility that the city might consider another aid organization with a donation. At the same time, however, they take the view that UNRWA is the only aid organization in Gaza that is able to provide effective aid. They absolutely refused to accept the compromise proposal to remove UNRWA from the proposal.
A majority in the Zurich city council does not seem willing or able to face the reality of UNRWA, says Blum. He is saddened that the mayor cannot recognize UNRWA’s controversial role. “She seems to have a blind spot there.”
Waiting for Corine Mauch
Meanwhile, André Golliez has been waiting for a sign from the mayor for a month. In response to a query from the NZZ, the presidential department said that Mauch would answer the letter after she returned from vacation.
The mayor’s spokesman, Lukas Wigger, did not respond to the criticism of the mayor expressed by Golliez and the Swiss-Israeli Society. However, he stated that the review of the postulate had not yet been completed. It was being carried out “with great care and in awareness of the sensitive context.”
The most pragmatic solution would probably be for the city to donate money to two aid organizations, as it did in January: one Jewish and one in Gaza. That way, the contributions would undoubtedly be humanitarian aid and not partisan support.
