Die Linke is quick to make accusations

Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt of the Bavarian Christian Social Union? He has been sued for defamation over a comment he made – a single word that slipped out – on television. On ZDF, the minister is a guest of journalist Maybrit Illner. They are discussing Elif Eralp, the leader of Die Linke, the social-communist party that came first in Berlin a few days ago. Illner says: “She’s anti-Semitic… sorry, she isn’t.” And Dobrindt retorts on the spot: “Actually, she is.” He has been sued. Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Katherina Reiche of Friedrich Merz’s CDU? She has been referred to the Constitutional Court for posting a video on the ministry’s account in which she criticises Die Linke for its programme of property expropriation “and because it openly espouses anti-Semitism, frightening the Jews of this city”. The clip is said to breach the duty of institutions to maintain political neutrality. And what of The Left MP Ferat Koçak, who has been pilloried by the press for his friendly exchanges with members of the Remmo clan – the cream of Berlin’s underworld – and for attending a party with a member of the PFLP (a terrorist organisation according to the EU)? The party did indeed accept his resignation from the Bundestag’s Committee on Internal Affairs – where this friend of Germany’s most notorious gang did indeed seem somewhat out of place – but it confirmed his appointment as the Bundestag’s spokesperson on anti-fascism. Sanctions? None.

The Left has a very ‘à la carte’ notion of justice in mind; its representatives speak freely about Israel, Zionism, apartheid and genocide, yet they do not tolerate being accused in Germany of hating Jews after some people at party rallies chant ‘death to the IDF’, the Israeli army. The first exploratory talks between Die Linke, the Greens and the SPD suggest that Frau Eralp could become Berlin’s first mayor of Turkish origin. However, even her prospective red-green allies have asked her to put her own house in order regarding hostility towards Jews and Israel. So far, she has not denounced them.