GENEVA

The Swiss Council of States, the small chamber of the Swiss parliament in which the cantons are represented, voted unanimously on Tuesday to ban the Palestinian group Hamas in Switzerland.

In the live-streamed session, the parliament justified its decision in particular with the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

"Hamas was founded with the aim of destroying the state of Israel and its inhabitants," Daniel Jositsch, a member of the Swiss Social Democrats who represents the canton of Zurich in the Council of States, told public broadcaster SRF after the vote.

Mathias Zopfi from the Green Party in the canton of Glarus said: "It is unacceptable for this organization to be portrayed as a representative of the Palestinian people."

There were also critical voices about the ban.

"If Switzerland bans organizations other than those banned by the UN, it risks coming under international pressure," Carlo Sommaruga, the representative of the Swiss Social Democrats from Geneva, told the broadcaster.

He also referred to the long history of the Middle East conflict and the innocent victims on the Palestinian side.

"A ban on Hamas would also be a mistake in view of Switzerland's potential role as a mediator," Sommaruga continued. The representative from Geneva is the president of the Swiss-Palestinian Parliamentary Group.

After the Council of States, the National Council, the large chamber of the Swiss parliament, must now also deal with the ban on Hamas. The vote is expected to take place next week.

In November, the Swiss federal government already instructed the Justice Ministry, independently of the parliaments, to draw up a draft law to ban Hamas by the end of February.