Swiss authorities: Suspect in antisemitic stabbing was radicalized online, in Tunisia

A teenager who allegedly stabbed an Orthodox Jewish man in Switzerland was radicalized in Tunisia and online, Zurich’s regional security minister says.

Investigations into the March 2 attack are progressing at a swift pace, Mario Fehr says during a press briefing on cantonal crime statistics.

The 15-year-old suspect claimed responsibility for the attack in a video in Arabic in which he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State jihadist group and called for a “global fight against the Jews,” police have said.

The boy is a Tunisian immigrant who was naturalized in Switzerland in 2011.

“There is a strong link with Tunisia,” where the teenager spent four years between 2017 and 2021, Fehr says, according to Switzerland’s Keystone-ATS news agency.

An important factor in his radicalization was also the amount of time he spent on internet forums, says Fehr, who heads the Zurich cantonal administration.