YNET NEWS: Former ambassador to Geneva chides Swiss president for meeting with Iranian president, says country cannot remain neutral in the face of Holocaust denial. Historian Arieh Kochavi explains why Switzerland's neutrality serves its long-term interests
Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz justified his meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday, asserting to his critics that Switzerland is maintaining its neutrality.
The neutrality card failed, however, to win over at least one skeptic, Israel's former ambassador to Geneva, Yitzhak Meir.
"It was impossible to remain neutral in the face of the evil of World War II, and it is impossible to remain neutral in the face of Ahmadinejad," Meir told Ynet.
"As a friend of Switzerland, I believe that the president was mistaken in his understanding of the average citizen's stance in Switzerland today," said Meir, who dispatched a letter to Merz's office in Berne.
"I wrote to him that what he did wasn't just wrong, it was a gross error. I regret this, and it pains me as a man who has seen the other sides of Switzerland."
The former ambassador believes that Switzerland has yet to understand that the neutrality it aspires to is not feasible.
"The committee that Switzerland formed after WWII acknowledged the fact that the country carried out a role that the Swiss couldn't forgive themselves for. They couldn't come to terms with what occurred in their country in the name of 'neutrality' – their policies regarding Jewish refugees. And here, once more the issue of neutrality is on the table."
Meir emphasized that Switzerland does not deny the Holocaust like Ahmadinejad and his ilk, but added that this is what makes the meeting so problematic.
"Holocaust deniers will be able to use the meeting despite Switzerland's stance. This meeting is grave because it creates a sort of banality and laicization of the Swiss attempt not to forget the Holocaust. I see President Merz's choice as an anti-Swiss act." >>> Yael Levy | Tuesday, April 21, 2009
