Swiss ski store fined over antisemitic discrimination
Sign placed in shop window in February informed customers that it would no longer rent equipment to ‘our Jewish brothers’ due to various incidents, including theft of a sled

GENEVA, Switzerland — A restaurant manager in the Swiss ski resort of Davos has been fined for refusing to rent sports equipment to Jews, prosecutors said Wednesday.
The manager was sentenced to a fine and a suspended fine for “discrimination by refusing to provide services on the grounds of race, ethnicity or religion,” the office of the southeastern Graubunden canton’s public prosecutor told AFP.
In February, the 20 Minuten newspaper published a picture of a sign put up at the plush Pischa station above Davos, the resort known for hosting the annual World Economic Forum of the globe’s business and political elites.
The sign, in Hebrew, said that because of various incidents, “including the theft of a sled, we no longer rent sports equipment to our Jewish brothers.”
The policy applied to all winter sports equipment including sleds, airboards and snowshoes, it said, ending with “thank you for your understanding.”
20 Minuten said the restaurant had told the paper in a written statement that they “no longer want the daily hassle” of Jewish guests leaving sleds on the slopes, or equipment not being returned or “returned defective.”
אין השכרה ליהודים: תחנת השכרת ציוד חורף בעיירה דאבוס עדכנה את התיירים היהודים כי לא יוכלו יותר לשכור ציוד סקי. הקהילה היהודית זועמת, אך בתחנה טוענים כי זה לא צעד אנטישמי אלא תגובה לכך שחלק מהתיירים לא מכבדים את חוקי המקום (ווינט) pic.twitter.com/dnF7nH4uwg
— חדשות המוקד (@hamoked_il) February 12, 2024
Following a media storm in Switzerland, the restaurant manager apologized and reversed the decision.
The size of the fine was not announced, and as the man in question did not appeal, the case did not go to court.
“The penal order is final. We will not provide any further details on the sanction,” the prosecutor’s office said.
The Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities filed the legal complaint.
“We are pleased that the public prosecutor’s office acted quickly and consistently,” its general secretary Jonathan Kreutner told AFP.
The Zurich-based Foundation against Racism and Antisemitism noted in February that this was not the first time tensions had arisen in Davos between locals and tourists, “some of whom are Orthodox Jews.”
The Davoser Zeitung newspaper reported in August last year that 3,000 to 4,000 Orthodox Jewish people took holidays in the resort in the summer of 2023, noting that there was “increasing criticism of the behavior of these tourists.”