Swiss police have opened an investigation against a ski rental shop, which posted notices that it will no longer rent skis and sleds to Jews.
It is about a store located in the famous resort of Davos, which decided on this scandalous move because of “incidents involving theft”. The notices read in Hebrew that the store “no longer sells sports equipment to Jewish brothers.”
Many believe that this is a clear violation of Swiss laws on discrimination and incitement to racial and religious hatred. The police launched an investigation, and the store has since removed the notices and reversed its decision. The Swiss Association of Jewish Communities also launched its own legal action and condemned the discriminatory notices.
The store’s controversial decision was made after employees could no longer cope with the task of traversing the mountain in an attempt to find their abandoned equipment.
The ban lasted for 24 hours, and was lifted after a storm of protests. The mayor of Davos, Philipp Wilhelm, said that every form of anti-Semitism, racism and discrimination must be condemned and that it has no place in Davos.
The store manager apologized and said that the notice was “poorly worded” and that Jews were “welcome”.
However, anti-racism groups say the store’s move is much more serious than “unfortunate wording” and represents classic racism and discrimination. A better solution in any case would be to get an ID or credit card from those who rent the equipment.
On the other hand, tourism officials point out that Davos has become popular among the orthodox Israeli Jewish community and that there have been cases in which guests treated their hosts with disrespect. A working group was recently established to resolve tensions between tourists and hosts, and both sides admitted that there were difficulties.
However, considering the increase in cases of anti-Semitism throughout Europe due to the war in Gaza, the ski shop’s move in the eyes of many seems not only “stupid”, but also racist, especially since Davos has been visited by large groups for years, among which there were those who did not behave appropriately.
Among them are various rich guests, from Russian oligarchs to oil magnates from the Gulf states to young bankers from Zurich known for their wild parties and cocaine consumption.
Despite this, none of these groups seem to have been “targeted” by the store, as is the case with Jewish customers, writes BBC.
