Why Swiss ‘neutrality’ is a sham

Editorial
Ha’aretz

“Switzerland’s behavior is disgraceful,” said Tel Aviv’s Ha’aretz in an editorial. It has made a bargain with the devil—in the form of Iran, a country that “openly favors the destruction of Jews” and the annihilation of Israel. Last week, the Zurich utility Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft Laufenburg signed a deal with the National Iranian Gas Export Company to bring gas from Iran to Europe as early as next year. Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey actually wore an Islamic head scarf while attending the signing ceremony in Tehran. Switzerland defends its $25 billion deal by saying that Europe needs diversity in its energy suppliers so as not to be over-reliant on Russia. Buying gas from Iran, the Swiss claim, is not the same thing as supporting Iranian policies. But this pretense of neutrality is a sham. We remember well that Switzerland used its supposed neutrality as an excuse to “stand on the sidelines” while Europe was torn apart in a war between Hitler’s “forces of darkness” and “Winston Churchill’s forces of light.” It was inexcusable then, and it is inexcusable now. “Evil is not neutral, and there can be no neutrality exercised toward it. Anyone who is not against it is perforce in favor of it.”