Swiss Envoy Apologizes, Resigns

Switzerland’s ambassador to the United States resigned on Monday after the publication of a long diplomatic cable in which he advised his government to make up its mind about how to deal with disclosures about its role as banker to Nazi Germany, and concluded with a warning that “this is a war which Switzerland must conduct on the foreign and domestic front, and must win.”

The ambassador, Carlo Jagmetti, a longtime Swiss diplomat who was scheduled to retire this summer, also concluded his strategy paper with a warning that the groups representing Holocaust victims seeking recompense from Swiss banks are “opponents” who “cannot be trusted.”

On Monday, in a letter to the Swiss president and the federal councilors who have struggled in recent weeks to contain the controversy, Jagmetti said that he regretted “having offended the sensibilities of Jewish groups and the public with some expressions in the report,” some of which he said were “misconstrued.”