Overview
- A file returned to Der Spiegel on Thursday contained Elif Eralp’s authorized interview with internal annotations in which she wrote that she and her family were afraid and that she “cannot put myself and my family in danger for the Spiegel.”
- Eralp’s team deleted a reporter question about Ibrahim Ibrahim and an apparent answer during the authorization; her notes cited past Landeskriminalamt advice to avoid naming individuals and said current concerns involve people with contacts to Hamas.
- Eralp’s office says she has faced months of insults and threats, and she publicly declared she “will not be intimidated” and pledged to protect Berlin; critics from SPD and CDU have questioned whether she could govern independently.
- Security bodies and reports link Ibrahim Ibrahim to the Vereinigte Palästinensische Nationalkomitee and to the PFLP according to the Berlin Verfassungsschutz, and he was photographed with Linke politicians after September’s vote and later travelled to Istanbul.
- The disclosure revives long‑running worries about parts of Die Linke’s proximity to pro‑Palestinian extremist networks, risks affecting SPD and Green willingness to enter talks, and highlights how the practice of authorising verbatim interviews can expose private annotations.