The US ambassador to Germany led protests outside the UN Monday over what he termed the "bigotry" faced by Israel at the Human Rights Council, as nations weighed condemnations of the Jewish state.
Switzerland's foreign ministry said on Tuesday it regretted the decision of the United States to withdraw from the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council.
Israel will refuse Swiss diplomats access to the Gaza Strip until further notice after recent meetings were held with Hamas leaders, an Israeli official said on Wednesday.
The Swiss defence ministry has admitted to a “communications breakdown” after it emerged that it had been testing reconnaissance drones in the Golan Heights.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will next week address the United Nations' top human rights body in Geneva, the UN said on Tuesday, as a wave of violence in Israel continues despite international calls for calm.
Switzerland's parliament on Monday voted in favour of a controversial plan to buy six Israeli surveillance drones worth
250 million Swiss francs ($256 million, €230 million).
Evidence showed both Israel and Palestinian militants committed war crimes during last year's Gaza war, a widely anticipated United Nations report says, decrying "unprecedented" devastation and human suffering.
Israel has lodged a formal protest with Bern over Swiss funding for an exhibit by an Israeli NGO critical of the army's conduct in the Palestinian territories.
An international conference in Geneva on Wednesday called on both Israelis and Palestinians to respect humanitarian rights laws in the occupied territories, but was condemned by Israel as a "political exercise".
Israel on Friday condemned Switzerland's plan to host a conference on respect for international human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, charging it was a deviation from the country's traditional neutrality.
The Swiss foreign ministry said on Wednesday it is in talks about holding an international conference sought by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas focusing on protecting civilians in Gaza.
Israel's military actions in the Gaza Strip could amount to war crimes, UN rights chief Navi Pillay said in Geneva on Wednesday, while also condemning indiscriminate rocket attacks by Palestinian militants Hamas.
French-Israeli tycoon Arcady Gaydamak was released from jail in Geneva after signing a financial agreement to resolve a dispute with former French football player Luis Fernandez, a newspaper reported online on Wednesday night.
A Geneva tribunal has rejected a request for bail by French-Israeli tycoon Arcady Gaydamak over a breach of trust case linked to the Israeli football club Beitar Jerusalem, which he once owned.
Israel on Tuesday became the first country to boycott a UN Human Rights Council review of its rights situation, sparking
heated debate among diplomats on how to respond.
<p>Swiss supermarket chain Migros has announced that it will begin adding special labels to any products that come from "Occupied Palestinian Territories".</p>
<p>Several dozen pro-Palestinian activists protested at Geneva airport on Sunday, saying authorities prevented them from boarding a Tel Aviv-bound flight as part of a "fly-in" that Israel has vowed<br />to block.</p>
<p>Some 50 passengers who described themselves as "pro-Palestinian" were prevented from embarking on a flight to Israel from Geneva airport on Friday, officials said, prompting flight delays.</p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Swiss MPs and journalists are set to travel aboard a Swiss ship taking part in an aid convoy bound for the Gaza Strip at the end of June, it was reported on Tuesday. The ten-ship flotilla was organized by human rights activists.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey met her Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres in Geneva on Monday, where they discussed the uprisings in the Arab world.</span></p>
