Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Switzerland
Switzerland: the birthplace of political Zionism, its Jewish community and Israeli ties
Switzerland hosted the First Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897 and the founding assembly of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) in 1936; about 18,600 Jews lived there in 2016, according to an estimate cited by the WJC.[1] Barak's leaked emails include contacts with the Zurich private bank Julius Baer.[2]
Jewish community
The Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (Schweizerischer Israelitischer Gemeindebund) is the WJC's affiliate. The largest communities are in Zurich (6,800), Geneva (4,400) and Basel (2,600).[1]
Zionist history
The inaugural congress of the Zionist Organization, which became the World Zionist Organization in 1960, took place in Basel from 29 to 31 August 1897; the WJC says that the site was the Musiksaal of the Grand Hotel Les Trois Rois.[1]
Holocaust
According to the WJC, Switzerland tried to prevent the entry of Jewish refugees during the Second World War, including by asking the German authorities to mark Jews' passports with the letter "J". By the end of the war 25,000 Jews had benefited from Swiss protection, but "many thousands of others had been sent back from the Swiss border into the hands of the Nazis and were murdered". Committees were later set up to investigate Jewish assets deposited in Switzerland and the Swiss banking sector's collaboration with Nazi Germany.[1]
Israeli state and commercial ties
Diplomacy
The Israeli foreign ministry's 2011 list of missions records relations with Switzerland as recognition in January 1949, with "Israel" represented by its embassy in Bern.[3] The WJC says that Switzerland recognised "Israel" in 1949 and upgraded its consulate in Tel Aviv to an embassy in 1958; "Israel" also has a consulate general in Zurich and a mission to international organisations in Geneva. The Israeli embassy is at Alpenstrasse 32, 3006 Bern.[1]
Arms trade
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) records Swiss purchases of six Hermes-900 reconnaissance drones under the CHF250 million ADS-15 programme (ordered 2015, delivered 2023), Ranger drones produced partly in Switzerland (1996) and Spike-LR2 missiles (2024).[4]
Trade
The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics reports that "Israel" imported goods worth $5,279.4 million from Switzerland in 2025 (2024: $4,573.0 million) and exported goods worth $575.8 million to it (2024: $612.5 million).[5]
Political interference
UN voting
Switzerland voted in favour of the September 2025 General Assembly resolution endorsing the New York Declaration on a two-state solution.[6]
Ehud Barak emails
The following items come from the two leaked mailboxes of the former Israeli prime minister and defence minister Ehud Barak (ehbarak1@gmail.com and ehud.barak@hyperion-eb.com, 2007–2016). They were hacked and leaked by Handala, a group that Distributed Denial of Secrets describes as "believed to have ties to Iranian intelligence", and were published by Distributed Denial of Secrets in August 2025. The emails carry no cryptographic signatures, and Distributed Denial of Secrets warns that material from such hack-and-leak operations may have been altered.[7]
- On 27 April 2016 Cédric Heri, chief of staff of Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd., Bahnhofstrasse 36, Zurich, invited Barak to a management session in Zurich on 26 August on the Middle East, saying that the bank wanted "to seek your guidance and leverage your know-how of this region".[2]
- On 3 May 2016 Boris Collardi, writing from a Julius Baer address, thanked Barak for "last week", attached a guest's tribute to a dinner in Milan, and said: "I await your feedback on the three points we discussed."[8]
Jeffrey Epstein
Documents released by the US Department of Justice in the Jeffrey Epstein files include the following.
- On 15 June 2014 Epstein emailed Barak and a recipient addressed as "A. de Rothschild" to arrange a breakfast meeting in Geneva on 18 June. Barak replied that he would be "very glad and honored to meet", and Epstein told him: "she has a real problme with her foundaiton and the Israeli govt. i will need 20 minutes of your time to brief you".[9]
See also
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Austria
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Czechia
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Hungary
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Poland
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Portugal
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Slovakia
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Spain
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 World Jewish Congress, Community in Switzerland worldjewishcongress.org, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Email from Cédric Heri to Ehud Barak, "Strategy Session - Middle East", 27 April 2016, file
ehbarak1@gmail.com/Inbox/0000000587-Strategy Session - Middle East.html, Ehud Barak emails, Distributed Denial of Secrets, released 27 August 2025 (hacked and leaked by the Handala group), accessed 25 October 2026. - ↑ Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Diplomatic Missions Abroad: Status of relations mfa.gov.il, archived 5 August 2011.
- ↑ Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI Arms Transfers Database SIPRI, trade register for Israel as supplier, 1950–2025, data generated 20 October 2026.
- ↑ Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel), Foreign Trade Statistics Monthly, Table D1: Trade Countries – Imports and Exports CBS, December 2025 issue (library copy).
- ↑ United Nations General Assembly, Recorded vote on A/80/L.1/Rev.1: Endorsement of the New York Declaration on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, 12 September 2025 (copy hosted by Al-Quds Al-Arabi).
- ↑ Distributed Denial of Secrets, Ehud Barak emails, 27 August 2025, with download at data.ddosecrets.org, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ Email from Boris Collardi to Ehud Barak, "Thank you", 3 May 2016, file
ehbarak1@gmail.com/Inbox/0000000470-Thank you.html, Ehud Barak emails, Distributed Denial of Secrets, released 27 August 2025 (hacked and leaked by the Handala group), accessed 25 October 2026. - ↑ Email exchange between Jeffrey Epstein and Ehud Barak, "Re: a breakfast on June 18", 15 June 2014, EFTA01921373, US Department of Justice, Epstein Files release, Data Set 10, copy at tommycarstensen.com/epstein, accessed 25 October 2026.