Swiss lawyers accuse their country and foreign minister of ‘aiding and abetting genocide in Gaza’

• Switzerland included on UN-prepared list of countries implicated in genocide

GENEVA

Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis is being accused of complicity in alleged war crimes committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip and of failing to adequately respond to the genocide in Gaza.

Irene Wettstein Martin, one of 25 lawyers who filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Cassis, told Anadolu that Switzerland has been included on a UN-prepared list of countries implicated in the genocide.

She said the lawyers condemn Switzerland’s continued export of military equipment and so-called dual-use goods to Israel.

"For example, in 2024, military equipment exports were worth approximately 16.7 million Swiss francs. In 2025, this reached 25 million. So, it has been steadily increasing,” she said, adding that Switzerland is engaged in commercial activities involving military weapons used in Gaza.

Martin said representatives of the Swiss Defense Ministry traveled to Israel more than 25 times in 2024 and 2025.

“We don't know the purpose of these trips, but this is far from neutrality," she added.

She also said the Swiss National Bank’s investments in Israel’s arms industry demonstrate Cassis’s complicity in the genocide.

Martin underlined that Cassis has a duty to respect international agreements such as the Geneva Conventions and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and called on him to fulfill his responsibilities.

"48 hours after our press conference (on Feb.3), 20,000 people in Switzerland said, 'Yes, we condemn it. We agree that Ignazio Cassis should be condemned for his complicity.' This is very important," she said.

Martin expressed hope for an immediate change in the situation in Gaza and in Swiss policy regarding the genocide.

"We hope for a change in Swiss policy, an immediate cessation of military cooperation (with Israel), and a change in the language used, the diplomatic language,” she said.

“Condemning Hamas's actions on Oct. 7th (2023) is absolutely correct, but we see that the actions of the Israeli army are not condemned in the same way in Switzerland,” Martin stated, adding that the weak response to the horrific situation in the occupied Palestinian territories reveals Cassis's complicity.

*Writing by Kanyshai Butun in Istanbul