European sources demand sanctions against Hamas and ban its activities (Reuters)
The Swiss government announced on Wednesday that it plans to submit a bill by the end of February banning the activities of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and its supporters inside Switzerland, and France called for European sanctions on Hamas officials.
Swiss Justice and Police Minister Elisabeth Bohm Schneider said banning Hamas activities would facilitate the expulsion of what she described as "dangerous persons" and speed up criminal proceedings against potential terrorists.
Schneider said the Swiss government was aware that banning a movement constituted a major assault on fundamental rights and could affect Switzerland's foreign policy room of manoeuvre, but the government considered the interests of internal security and the need to combat "terrorist financing" to take precedence over other considerations.
Monitoring financial flows
Schneider said banks and other financial intermediaries would be obliged to disclose and report possible activities in Switzerland by Hamas and its affiliates.
The minister stressed that NGOs should not use any Swiss funding to support Hamas's actions.
Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said his country's authorities were not aware of Swiss funds that benefited Hamas and its activities.
He considered that the Hamas operation on the seventh of last October represents a turning point in history and Hamas must be classified as "terrorist," as he described.
The Swiss ministries' agencies must submit the bill by the end of February, and the procedure is supposed to last for a year, according to federal authorities.
Individual sanctions
For her part, French Minister of State for Europe Laurence Bonne said today that France is calling for the imposition of individual European sanctions targeting senior Hamas officials, which go beyond condemning the movement as a whole.
Bonn did not specify the number or identities of people likely to be hit mainly by the financial sanctions, which could take the form of an asset freeze, it said.
France wants people linked to Hamas or Lebanese Hezbollah to be subject to the same type of sanctions as individuals in Iran for their role in the war in Ukraine, she said.
The European Union has imposed sanctions on seven Iranian entities for allegedly manufacturing explosive drones that Russia uses to strike targets in Ukraine.
The French minister of state hoped that the Paris proposal would be adopted at the next meeting of EU foreign ministers in December, which is supported by Berlin and Rome, according to sources.
The United States has imposed sanctions on 10 Hamas leaders, and the European Union, Washington and other countries have designated Hamas a "terrorist organization."
Source: Agencies