The failure of the exploratory talks can be attributed to concerns over the often highly critical stance towards Israel taken by some members of the Left Party, coupled with criticism over the appearance of a figure linked to organized crime at an election night event.
The left has performed well among parts of Berlin’s population, notably young people and communities with more people of immigrant background, with an unusually tough line on Israel’s wars in Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East by the often muted standards of German politics.
But comments from its most vocal members and controversies such as that of an organized crime boss attending an election night after party have led to questions – particularly in some newspapers and from conservative Christian Democrats – about whether center-left parties could operate under left-wing leadership.
To try to resolve this problem, the Greens, the SPD and the left drafted a joint declaration on anti-Semitism, Israel’s right to exist and maintaining its distance from organized crime before beginning their negotiations.
But the text was then criticized within the left itself.
On Tuesday, as 44 Left Party members of Berlin’s new parliament met, they instead approved a different text, more closely aligned with the party’s former internal positions.
“We defend Israel’s right to exist and equal rights for all people in Israel. Likewise, we defend Palestine’s right to exist and equal rights for all people in Palestine,” we can read in the Left Party’s text.
Among other things, it omits a reference in the common text to the fact that Israel’s right to exist is “non-negotiable,” and a list of potential sanctions for transgressions up to and including expulsion from the party.
The CDU – which became the second party in the vote, far behind the left with 18.8% – says the SPD and Greens should instead negotiate a coalition government with them.
Chancellor Merz also weighed in on the debate, saying allegations of irregularities facing the Left Party cannot be “dismissed with a piece of paper.” Meanwhile, party lawmakers appear to have disavowed the piece of paper anyway.
Gn world
