Police in Switzerland are investigating a call online for an unauthorized protest rally in Basel on the 129th anniversary of the 1st Zionist Congress, which Theodor Herzl organized and presided over.
The call, which features the slogan “death to Zionism,” appeared on social media earlier this week, but the organizers of the event, scheduled for Aug. 29, have not been identified, Jonathan Kreutner, general secretary of the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (SIG), told JNS on Monday.
Police in Basel, who require protests to apply for approval at least 14 days in advance, have been alerted to the development, he said.
According to online banners advertising the event under the headline “Free Palestine – Death to Zionism,” the event will take place at 2 p.m. on Aug. 29, a Saturday, at Theaterplatz, a square adjacent to the Music Hall of Basel’s Stadtcasino, where the 1st Zionist Congress opened on Aug. 29.
“It’s serious and the authorities are alert,” said Kreutner.
Basel’s Theaterplatz is a broad public square at the center of Basel’s cultural district. It’s located less than a mile away from the Old City and serves as a meeting place and venue for public gatherings, performances and demonstrations.
Congress participants established the Zionist Organization during the event, which was later renamed the World Zionist Organization, and elected Theodor Herzl, a Budapest-born journalist turned Zionist activist, as the congress’s president.
The Zionist Organization was an important element of the scaffolding that facilitated the creation and survival of the State of Israel. Herzl famously wrote in his journal about the event: “At Basel I founded the Jewish State.”
He added that saying so publicly at the time would invite ridicule, but predicted that this would be universally recognized within 50 years. David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, 50 years and eight months after the 1897 event.
Herzl died in 1904 in Edlach an der Rax, a town in modern-day Austria, which was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was 44.