Overview
- Unionsfraktionschef Jens Spahn accused the Berlin branch of Die Linke of being a "crude mixture of old SED and new Hamas" and claimed it has an unclear stance toward Islamist terrorists with "open Jew-hatred" in its youth wing.
- Linke chair Jan van Aken dismissed the allegations as "freely invented crap" and argued the CDU is worried about losing the Berlin election next year.
- At the weekend Landesparteitag, the Berlin Linke plans to nominate Elif Eralp as its top candidate for the 2026 Abgeordnetenhaus race and debate motions to support BDS and to call Israel’s Gaza campaign "genocide."
- The party leadership previously distanced itself from a Linksjugend ['solid'] resolution branding Israel’s state project as "colonial and racist," which intensified scrutiny of antisemitism within the party.
- Seventeen Linke Bundestag members, including Bodo Ramelow, Dietmar Bartsch and Gregor Gysi, warned in a letter that "something is sliding," following earlier exits by Berlin figures Klaus Lederer and Elke Breitenbach over the party’s handling of Israel criticism.