Israel Matzav

Your tax Francs at work: Foreign Ministry calls on Swiss government, city of Zurich to withdraw support from Breaking the Silence exhibition

Israel's Foreign Ministry is urging the government of Switzerland and the City of Zurich to withdraw support from an exhibition being put on by Breaking the Silence, a European-funded Israeli NGO that has made false accusations against the IDF in the past. The withdrawal of support would apparently lead to the exhibition not taking place. This is from the first link.

A senior official in the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said Israel's ambassador to Switzerland, Yigal Caspi, called the head of the Middle East and North Africa Division in Switzerland's Department of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday to issue a formal complaint, and request his government quit funding the NGO's exhibition.

The Israeli official, who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the matter, noted that Caspi "vigorously protested" Swiss support for the exhibition, which, he emphasized in his conversation with the Swiss official," serves to slander Israel." As such, he said, the Israeli government is concerned by the fact that Switzerland is financing it.

The exhibition, which is due to open in June in Zurich, would include photos and testimonies of Israel Defense Forces soldiers alleging human rights violations in the West Bank.

Two weeks ago, the Israeli news website NRG reported that Switzerland's Foreign Ministry contributed 15,000 Swiss francs ($16,100) to support the exhibition, and that the Zurich municipality contributed an additional 10,000 Swiss francs ($10,700).

If the formal complaint doesn't work (and it probably won't), maybe Hotovely should instruct the ambassador to show up at the exhibition. That's worked pretty well in the past.

Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Breaking the Silence, European anti-Semitism, human rights, Palestinian terrorism, Swiss anti-Semitism, Switzerland, Tzipi Hotovely, Zurich

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:07 PM