Berlin Coalition’s Tussle Over Anti-Semitism

The Green Party and Social Democratic Party (spd) will resume talks with Die Linke (The Left) party to form the state government of Berlin, party leaders said yesterday. Berlin is one of Germany’s 16 federal states, as well as its capital city.

• Last week, the three parties agreed to make certain commitments to guard against and punish anti-Semitism among their members. But on Tuesday, the Left produced a document regarding anti-Semitism and Israel’s right to exist that was “completely different” from the agreement, Berlin spd leader Steffen Krach said.
• Also on Tuesday, the Left added Vanessa Emde, who doesn’t believe the State of Israel should exist, to its Berlin parliamentary group.

The parties made amends yesterday, with the Left mayoral candidate Elif Eralp saying the misunderstandings were “cleared up” and that last week’s agreement on anti-Semitism measures would be used if the parties successfully form a government.

The Left has frequently been accused of anti-Semitism. Just last month:

• Former spd coleader Bärbel Bas stated that “large parts” of the Left “act in an anti-Semitic way,” and the Central Council of Jews in Germany stated that the party “crossed the line with anti-Semitic remarks during the election campaign” in Berlin.
• Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt called Eralp an anti-Semite, resulting in a lawsuit from the Left.
• Economics Minister Katherina Reiche said the Left is now “openly embracing anti-Semitism.”

For good reason:

• Ferat Kocak, one of its members of parliament, was photographed at one of the Left’s victory parties with Ibrahim Ibrahim.
• One of its campaign events included a rapper who exclaimed “Yallah, yallah, intifada!” and “Death to the idf!” (Most Jewish Israeli adults are either veterans of or active duty members of the Israel Defense Forces.)

The spd stated that the Left should “not allow a millimeter of space for anti-Semitism” in September. Yet the spd isn’t holding them to that standard.

• That could be because the Left received the most votes in Berlin’s state election at 25.7 percent, and so it’s advantageous to negotiate with them in forming a government.

Anti-Semitism from both the left and right is spreading in Germany.