I recommend reading the following article by Wyatt Reed as published by The Grayzone, which I am reposting below. It provides more context for the tweeted image of Swiss security official, Mario Fehr which I included in the blog I published earlier today, Ali Abunimah Freed from Swiss Prison.
Zurich security director Mario Fehr at an October 10, 2023 solidarity with Israel event in Switzerland
Mario Fehr, the Swiss security official who ordered the arrest of Ali Abunimah, is a rabidly pro-Zionist politician who falsely branded the Palestinian American journalist as “an Islamist Jew-hater.” In the past, Fehr has taken pride in banning Palestine solidarity demonstrations.
The Swiss official who ordered the arrest of renowned Palestinian-American journalist Ali Abunimah justified doing so on the false and defamatory basis that Abunimah is “an Islamist Jew-hater.” Mario Fehr, the head of Zurich’s Department of Security, made the bogus accusation in a recent comment to the Swiss publication NZZ, which also falsely characterized Abunimah as an “Islamist” and an “extremist.”
Swiss authorities detained Abunimah on Jan. 25, after they initially allowed him entry into Switzerland following an hour-long interrogation. Abunimah was deported on Jan. 27 after two nights, during which Swiss officials refused to tell him whether he was being charged with a crime. According to the Swiss newspaper NZZ, officers in Zurich successfully petitioned federal police for an arrest warrant after realizing Abunimah had travelled to the country in order to deliver a speech at an event organized by the Zurich Palestine Committee. Fehr explained the arrest by stating, in reference to self-described “non-religious person” Ali Abunimah: “We do not want an Islamist Jew-hater who calls for violence in Switzerland.”
It’s unclear how Fehr came to adopt this patently false claim, but the article in NZZ gives a hint. In painting the secular Abunimah as a jihadist, the story’s authors relied on a leader of a little-known group called “Never Again Is Now,” (NAIN) which characterizes itself as “the only non-profit organization in Switzerland dedicated exclusively to combating antisemitism,” says it “demands the uncompromising enforcement of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism,” and claims: “we… defend Israel against anti-Zionist agendas.”
NZZ quoted one of the group’s board members, Thomas Patzko, as stating “Abunimah and his platform are a mouthpiece for Hamas.” The outlet cited NAIN while insisting that Abunimah “delegitimizes the victims of the terrorist attack on October 7, specifically women and children” – a reference to Abunimah’s factual statement that “there is no credible evidence of a single rape on October 7.”
It’s not yet apparent whether these false accusations by Swiss media or the Zionist group led directly to Abunimah’s deportation. But at some point prior to Abunimah’s scheduled address, “the Zurich [regional] police had become aware of Abunimah’s planned appearance,” NZZ reported. “They had submitted a request to Fedpol for an entry ban,” the outlet wrote, adding “this request was granted” by “the responsible government councilor and security director Mario Fehr.”
What is clear, however, is the Zurich security chief’s allegiance to the Zionist narrative. At a “Rally in solidarity with Israel” on Oct. 10, 2023, Fehr openly stated that “the fate of Israel and its inhabitants is close to my heart” before rattling off a comprehensive list of pro-Israel talking points, ranting about Iran and quoting notoriously racist Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, while demanding the Swiss government cease funding any development projects in Palestine.
“Hamas and its main sponsor Iran have always called for the destruction of Israel and the Jews. The fact that official Swiss foreign policy believed in the illusion that it could seriously negotiate with these terrorists is naive and shameful. – Anyone who rapes women, kills old people, kidnaps children, dehumanizes the dead, takes countless peaceful people hostage is not a negotiating partner – he is a rapist, a murderer, a terrorist. Golda Meir was right: ‘You cannot negotiate peace with somebody who has come to kill you.’ Peace will not be possible with Hamas and its accomplices!”
Minutes later, Fehr launched into a tirade about those who “somehow try to explain that Israel is actually to blame,” complaining: “These relativists should simply spend their next trip to the Middle East in Gaza.” Though he conceded that “many Palestinian civilians are also suffering and are affected,” Fehr insisted that “the responsibility for this lies solely with the Hamas terrorists,” stating flatly: “Israel is not to blame for this escalation.”
Ultimately, Fehr insisted the Swiss “Federal Council must suspend development cooperation with Palestine (like the EU) until it is clear who the money is really going to benefit” because “there is currently no negotiating partner on the Palestinian side.”
“Anyone who sees it differently is allowing money to flow to terrorists,” he claimed.
In an interview with NZZ one month after the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, Fehr claimed that “the rampant anti-Semitism” had become “unbearable” in Switzerland, a trend he said was borne out by pro-Palestinian protests, and which he attributed to the presence of Arabs:
“We see from Palestine demonstrations that anti-Semitism is more widespread in certain cultural circles. Particularly in parts of the Arab world, children learn to hate Jews and Israel from an early age. We have to be careful that we don’t give this hatred any room here.”
Fehr criticized authorities in Switzerland for allowing pro-Palestinian protests to take place and said he had demanded they ban such events in areas under his jurisdiction, asserting that “anti-Israel demonstrations that are increasingly being hijacked by extremists.”
“Their goal is the annihilation of Israel and all Jews. The danger that Islamists from Germany or other countries will now move to Switzerland and spread their hatred is real. A large Palestine demonstration took place in Bern last Saturday, and the next one has been planned and approved for this weekend in the city of Zurich. I think that is negligent.”
“I have emphatically insisted to the head of municipal security to not authorize any more Palestine demonstrations in the current dangerous situation,” he stated.
Asked whether regional police under his command would “continue to support the Zurich city authorities, even though the city allows such demonstrations,” Fehr replied simply: “We will protect Jewish institutions as before – with all the means at our disposal.”
Wyatt Reed is the managing editor of The Grayzone. As an international correspondent, he’s covered stories in over a dozen countries. Follow him on Twitter at @wyattreed13.
Once again, O you! indifferent, distracted, naive, gullible spectators who swallow the lies and falsifications of the MSM instilled by the Zionist Hasbara, you who continue to believe in the fundamental honesty of this Helvetia once cited as an example, you who still believe that certain parts of the world, even the very country where you live, escape the yoke of the Zionist hydra, Wake up and you will see that Switzerland has succumbed to the song of the Zionist sirens. The sinister individual referred to uses the same arguments that are part of Zionism's arsenal of mass destruction: Victim delusions, shameless accusatory inversion knowing that it is in Israeli schools that, from a very young age, children are initiated into Hatred, dehumanization and rejection of the other, of Others, and, more particularly, of Arab sub-humans, not to say Palestinians, a concept that does not even exist in their minds....Poor Switzerland!...Sad planet...
Great article. Israel is a Pinocchio State. https://generalgrievance.substack.com/p/the-pinocchio-state?r=z5j1k
Once again, O you! indifferent, distracted, naive, gullible spectators who swallow the lies and falsifications of the MSM instilled by the Zionist Hasbara, you who continue to believe in the fundamental honesty of this Helvetia once cited as an example, you who still believe that certain parts of the world, even the very country where you live, escape the yoke of the Zionist hydra, Wake up and you will see that Switzerland has succumbed to the song of the Zionist sirens. The sinister individual referred to uses the same arguments that are part of Zionism's arsenal of mass destruction: Victim delusions, shameless accusatory inversion knowing that it is in Israeli schools that, from a very young age, children are initiated into Hatred, dehumanization and rejection of the other, of Others, and, more particularly, of Arab sub-humans, not to say Palestinians, a concept that does not even exist in their minds....Poor Switzerland!...Sad planet...