National Advisor, Anna Rosenwasser has Jewish roots, but also criticizes the Israeli government.Image: keystone
Anna Rosenwasser has Jewish roots and relatives in Israel, but she refuses to take sides. For her, humans are all equal and should never be confronted with war.
24.06.2025, 12:0224.06.2025, 12:02
The national councilor Anna Rosenwasser (PS) was in the Federal Parliament for the summer session last week, when a message vibrates her phone:
“We just got out of the shelter, after a missile attack”
SMS comes from a family member in Israel. Of Jewish origin, Anna Rosenwasser decides to publish it on Instagram. “This is probably the most personal post I have ever shared,” she told Watson. We met her before the last events of the weekend between Iran and the United States.
In general, the elected official avoids talking about her family. “It is too quickly interpreted as a pro-Israel political position, therefore against Palestine.” But this time, she shared this message because she felt alone. “And because it makes me sad to see how we talk about wars.”, Explains the national councilor, presented, during her election, as “the greatest influencer LGBTIQ+ in Switzerland”.
His publication has aroused empathy, but also of hatred. The thirties received anti -Semitic messages, insults. “It has worsened for a year and a half,” she says. But she also received a message from a person with family in Iran, who said: “I understand you.” “It helped me enormously. It showed me that I was not alone. ”, She says.
“Armed conflicts are not hockey games”
Since the expansion of the conflict to the Middle East of Gaza and Israel in Lebanon and Iran, online debates have taken a violent turn. On Tiktok, Internet users applaud rocket fire on Israeli buildings and hospitals. Some, who were still crying for Palestinian children the previous week, are now rejoicing fire images in the suburbs of Tel Aviv.
This dynamic is not new, but it is “extremely dangerous”, alerts Anna Rosenwasser. The socialist launches:
“I have enough that we treat armed conflicts like hockey matches. As if we had to choose a team against another. It’s not a game. These are people who die. In Gaza, these are tens of thousands of people, including thousands of children. ”
It rejects the idea that it is necessary to choose a camp, Palestine or Israel. “I am for humanity. We must defend international humanitarian law in Switzerland, and protect civilians, everywhere, in Gaza, Israel, Iran. ”
Show more nuances
Anna Rosenwasser has often criticized the Israeli government. She co-signed motions asking the Federal Council to clearly condemn the war crimes committed in Gaza.
But it also defends the protection of the Israeli civilian population, as it does for all the civilian populations who find themselves under the bombs. The Shaffesseise also condemned the Israeli attack on Iran, which she considers contrary to international law. She specifies, however:
“Adopting a nuanced position in this conflict is not to claim that all parties are equally guilty.”
What is missing in the debates, according to her, is the distinction between governments and the population, and the difference that exists between criticism and dehumanization. “Each human life has the same value,” insists the national councilor.
“I don’t wish anyone on this land to live an alert for missiles. Nor to suffer from hunger, to lose your house under the bombs or to have to flee. ”
Worrying about his loved ones, or for innocent civilians, is not a question of nationality, but of humanity. However, this feeling is often put in balance, measured, politicized. “As soon as someone expresses his concern for relatives in Israel, he must justify himself.” She deplores.
For Anna Rosenwasser, worrying about her family members has no borders.Image: keystone
As a politician, Anna Rosenwasser acknowledges that the balance of power in this conflict are asymmetrical. But pleading helplessness in the face of violence leads, she says, “to bad decisions and a loss of empathy”. And social networks are not for nothing.
Social networks exacerbate tensions
Anna Rosenwasser deplores the fact that, according to her, social networks require that we take a stand before even thinking. They promote impulsive reactions. She says:
“Many people believe that they must immediately display an opinion. But sometimes we have no opinion. Only emotions. And forge an opinion can take time. ”
Former journalist, the elected official believes in the power of the analysis, and in the need to take time. “War journalism places us in an emergency. But precisely, in these moments, it takes context, not just major titles. ”
Anna Rosenwasser criticizes certain Swiss media when “they minimize war crimes of the Israeli army”. But she also defends the profession. “Checking, contextualizing, explaining, is the only way to deal with distress.”, She analyzes.
What the socialist claims is no less emotions, but a more acute awareness of the fact that feelings are not always political positions.
And switching to hate postures is not used by the victims of conflicts. Anna Rosenwasser does not say: Choose Israel. Ni: Choose Gaza. She says, “Choose the civilian population. Choose empathy. Choose dignity. “
Because empathy, she concludes, is the last thing we have left, and the minimum of what makes humanity.
Translated from German by Joel Espi
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