Five members of the Swiss Parliament, as part of a 13 member delegation, are on a five day information tour to Israel. The delegation wanted to experience Israel first-hand. They claim that Switzerland has received a mostly negative view of Israel, as reported in the Swiss media. They decided to come and see the land for themselves and meet the people.

“It is very important to bring members of the Swiss Parliament to Israel so that they have a first-hand impression of the only democracy in the Middle East. We have to help support a change in the image of Israel,” says Andreas Bronnimann, head of the Swiss-Israel Friendship Caucus. “We can read a lot in the media, and see the news, but we are interested in finding out for ourselves. We plan to discuss, with Israeli parliamentary members, the diplomatic situation from their perspective. This is to create an independent opinion not influenced by the Swiss media,” he explains.

Members of this delegation have stated they want to see the Swiss Embassy move its headquarters from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. In the future, they hope more Israeli and Swiss parliamentary members will meet together, as is already being done in other European nations.

Switzerland has established on-going military cooperation with Israel. The Israeli defense establishment has supplied unmanned drones to the Swiss military.

(Government Press Office)