A delegation of the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities is calling for an explanation when it meets Justice Minister Christoph Blocher on January 18.

"There is no Jewish extremism here. There are armed security people here and there at Jewish institutions.

But it is completely legal and is carried out at places where unfortunately the state is not in a position to look after our security," commented Alfred Donath, president of the Federation.

"But these people are not militant Jews. The accusation of extremism is totally false," he added.

In the latest amended version of the report on extremism, there is a passage which reads that "anti-Semitic action could lead to Jewish extremism prepared for violence."

Cannot understand
In an interview with the "NZZ am Sonntag" newspaper, Donath says he cannot understand why the passage is still in the corrected version of the report.

"We would like to know that too! Is it dilettantism or bad will? A delegation of Swiss Jews will visit the minister responsible, Justice Minister Christoph Blocher, on January 18 for clarification on this issue," commented Donath.

He told the newspaper that the federation would be asking for the entire passage referring to Jewish extremism to be taken out of the report.

Asked whether there were not Swiss Jews who took radical positions, Donath explained that the spectrum of opinions about the Middle East situation was "naturally large", both among Swiss Jews and the rest of the Swiss population.

"But to construe from that we have an extremism prepared for violence is completely unfounded," he said.