Overview
- The Linke faction met with Vanessa Emde and held a full-fraktion discussion on Tuesday but reported they still see no common working basis with her and made no move to expel her.
- Emde has publicly repeated that she does not accept a right of existence for states and refused to retract those comments after signing a faction declaration that recognized Israel's existence.
- A formal exclusion would require a two-thirds vote of the faction and must follow internal timeframes and appeals rules, which makes any immediate removal impossible.
- Gideon Joffe, chair of the Jewish Community of Berlin, said he opposes kicking Emde out of the faction while also calling her repeated genocide accusations against Israel antisemitic.
- The dispute complicates plans for a red-green-red government in Berlin because Greens and the SPD have made a clear stance against antisemitism a precondition for cooperation and party bodies must now weigh sanctions before coalition talks advance.