Special Flights for Swiss Citizens to Continue
Published: Thursday, Oct 12th 2023, 18:10
Aktualisiert am: Freitag, 13. Oktober 2023, 14:12
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The Swiss government is continuing to organise special flights to evacuate Swiss citizens from Israel. On Thursday evening, pro-Palestine solidarity demonstrations were planned in Zurich and Geneva. Swiss Airlines will be operating a fourth special flight from Zurich to Tel Aviv on Friday at 11am, returning at 8.20pm. So far, two special flights have evacuated around 430 people to Switzerland. The third flight is expected to arrive in Zurich on Thursday evening. 550 people with a connection to Switzerland are still registered on the Travel Admin app. The Swiss government is advising Swiss citizens to consider other commercial flight options and exit possibilities. Warnings have been issued for Israel, the occupied Palestinian territories and Lebanon.
14 Swiss organisations have called for stronger Swiss engagement in the Middle East, including increased humanitarian aid for the local population. The traditional peace vigil in Bern, which has been taking place for 20 years, was cancelled on Thursday due to security concerns. Pro-Palestine demonstrations were announced for Thursday evening in Zurich and Geneva, but no demonstrators turned up. The University of Zurich and the ETH Zurich distanced themselves from the demonstration, condemning the Hamas terror attack on Israel and the call for an "intifada until victory" on the posters. The Swiss SVP called for pro-Palestine demonstrations to be banned, saying that freedom of demonstration should not be abused to promote antisemitism and glorify terrorism.
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