Overview
- Unionsfraktionschef Jens Spahn likened the Berlin Linke to a mix of the old SED and the new Hamas and alleged an unresolved stance toward Islamist terrorists with the youth wing displaying open Jew-hatred.
- Linke co-leader Jan van Aken dismissed the charges as made-up nonsense and framed them as CDU anxiety about losing the Berlin vote next year.
- Delegates are set to vote on motions that would endorse the BDS boycott campaign and label Israel’s campaign in Gaza a genocide, while the Berlin leadership circulates a compromise text stressing solidarity with all victims.
- The controversy follows a Linksjugend [’solid] resolution passed with roughly 70% support that described Israel as colonial and apartheid and referenced a genocide in Gaza.
- Seventeen Linke Bundestag members, including Bodo Ramelow, Dietmar Bartsch and Gregor Gysi, warned in a letter that something is slipping in the party as Berlin prepares to confirm Elif Eralp for 2026 after leading February’s federal vote in the city.