The Kantonspolizei Zürich, the Zurich cantonal police, arrested Palestinian-American journalist and activist Ali Abunimah on Saturday, January 25, 2025. The 53-year-old director of the pro-Palestinian online publication Electronic Intifada was scheduled to appear at a Palestine Committee Zurich event in Zurich. The authorities justified the arrest with an existing entry ban, imposed due to Abunimah’s journalistic activities.
Abunimah is an investigative journalist and a prominent figure in the debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. His platform, Electronic Intifada, reports on the war in Israel from a pro-Palestinian perspective, often criticized by Israeli supporters as a “Hamas mouthpiece.”Abunimah himself has made statements in the past that sparked sharp criticism from many.
Reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is strongly polarized. Recently, the Al Jazeera office in Israel was closed, sparking international outrage. The closure was justified by Israeli authorities with security concerns, but critics see it as an attack on press freedom.
The situation for Palestinian media and journalists in Israel has been tense for years, with many reporting on intimidation, censorship and arbitrary arrests. Meanwhile, Israeli narratives often dominate mainstream reporting, while Palestinian perspectives are underrepresented.
Abunimah was arrested on Saturday in Zurich, just hours before he was scheduled to speak at an event. It is unclear whether he is accused of a crime, but he has access to a lawyer. On the day of his arrival at Zurich Airport, he was questioned by the police for an hour. Electronic Intifada reported that Abunimah’s arrest seems to be part of a growing counter-reaction by Western governments against solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Born in Washington, D.C., as the son of Palestinian parents from the West Bank, Abunimah founded Electronic Intifada in 2001. The platform reports on events in the Middle East from a Palestinian perspective and Abunimah regularly appears in major media networks to represent the Palestinian view.
The arrest of Abunimah occurred just three months after a similar incident in the UK, where the police searched the home of Asa Winstanley, the deputy editor of Electronic Intifada and seized several electronic devices, investigating Winstanley for possible “terrorism promotion”in connection with his social media posts. Winstanley was not arrested or charged.
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, there have been several cases of arrests or searches in Europe related to pro-Palestinian activism, raising questions about the boundaries of freedom of opinion and the criminalization of activism.
Abunimah’s arrest casts a spotlight on the alarming state of press freedom in Switzerland. It highlights the growing challenges faced by journalists who advocate for perspectives not represented by mainstream media and the political system – particularly in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Clearly, a growing restriction of freedom of opinion and press is observable not only in Europe but also in Switzerland. The fact that Swiss mainstream media barely and superficially reported on the arrest of a US-American journalist in Zurich underlines this problem. Instead of a critical debate on the background and implications of the arrest, the topic was largely ignored or downplayed.
The “Abunimah case”should be a wake-up call for Switzerland and Europe. Press freedom is a cornerstone of democracy and its restriction not only endangers the work of journalists but also the right of the public to information. It is time for media, civil society and politics to come together to protect the freedom of opinion and press – before it’s too late.