Middle East | The Left Party and its false friends of Palestine

Delegates with keffiyeh at the 10th Federal Party Conference of the Left in Potsdam Photo: dpa/Michael Bahlo The Neukölln Left Party recently invited people to Herrfurthplatz. “Angry at Capitalism” was the name of the election campaign event, at which the rapper Dahabflex appeared towards the end. In his song "Stop the Genocide" he rapped "Yalla Yalla Intifada" and "Death to the IDF." Left Party politicians present did not intervene. Berlin's top candidate Elif Eralp then clearly distanced herself: calls for violence and the killing of people were unacceptable.

That was right. Only the subsequent debate about whether the Berlin party leadership has its Neukölln association under control and whether it could stand in the way of a future coalition falls short. There is a fundamental question behind this: What attitude towards Israel and Palestine should be the determining factor in the Left Party in the future?

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The Israeli-Palestinian conflict will not be resolved in Berlin. However, Berlin is home to a heterogeneous Jewish population with many Israelis and a large Palestinian community. Since October 7th, public dealings with the conflict have been characterized primarily by demonstrations, bans and police operations. Especially in Neukölln, the Left Party reaches people who hardly feel represented by other parties anymore.

However, parts of the Left Party are themselves contributing to a problematic development. In Neukölln in particular, an attitude has become strong in which non-compromise towards Israel becomes a sign of political purity: Zionism is seen as racism, Israel as illegitimate and compromise as treason.

Carl Melchers has a doctorate in political science and works on right-wing extremism and anti-Semitism at the Berlin School of Economics and Law. As a freelance journalist, he writes primarily about parties and social movements, international and US politics, as well as Berlin politics and urban culture.

In parts of the international left, such a development in the Left Party is welcomed as a farewell to a special German path. In fact, anti-Zionist positions are more widespread in many left-wing movements in other countries. However, there can be no talk of an international left-wing consensus.

Since 1967, parts of the international left have interpreted the Middle East conflict as an anti-imperialist liberation struggle. In its most extreme version, overcoming Zionism became the prerequisite for real Palestine solidarity. The most uncompromising supporters were not always the best friends of the Palestinians. Ultimately, it is not their supporters in Berlin, London or New York who pay the price for maximum political demands, but rather Israelis and, again and again, the Palestinians themselves.

The left's universalist claim includes not distributing equal political rights based on origin. Anyone who supports the national self-determination of the Palestinians cannot declare Jewish self-determination to be illegitimate in principle. This is not contradicted by sharp criticism of Israeli politics.

However, harsh criticism is different than the demand to share certain assessments in order to be considered a credible supporter of the Palestinians. Calling the Gaza war a genocide has become a political litmus test in parts of the left. Where even the refusal to use the term is considered a moral failure, a controversial assessment determines political credibility. This conflict has long since reached into the Left Party. The most recent federal party conference described the Gaza war as a genocide, but at the same time affirmed Israel's right to exist and expressly warned against morally discrediting doubters about the genocide accusation.

Also interesting: What is an intifada? Terrorism or insurgency? The fact that many political actors in Germany in particular reduce Palestinian uprisings to terrorism reveals a lot about themselves

The Left Party must not only define political boundaries, but also enforce them against its own people. Palestine solidarity and sharp criticism of Israeli policies should and must be possible; Calls to kill Israelis and the fundamental denial of Jewish self-determination are not allowed. Anyone who consistently exceeds such limits must ultimately expect to be excluded from the party.

Which Palestinian interests should be politically represented in Berlin must primarily be answered by Palestinians themselves and the parties that are campaigning for their votes. The Left Party would have the chance neither to place Palestine solidarity under general suspicion nor to declare anti-Zionism to be its supposedly authentic form.

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