Report from “Spiegel”: Elif Eralp is afraid

afp/dpa | According to a Spiegel report, the Berlin left-wing election winner Elif Eralp sees her family's safety in danger if she explicitly comments on a well-known Palestine activist. As Der Spiegel reports, this emerges from internal notes on an interview that the magazine conducted with her. The document and the comments were accidentally sent from Eralp's office to Der Spiegel. Eralp, who would like to become the governing mayor of Berlin, and the left-wing state leader Kerstin Wolter initially did not want to comment.

According to the report, Der Spiegel conducted an interview on Monday with Eralp, who is trying to form a state government with the Greens and SPD. The next day, the written version of the interview was sent to Eralp's spokesman for authorization. A day later the interview was returned with comments and comments. The release of verbatim interviews is often part of journalistic practice in Germany.

In the conversation, Eralp's line on anti-Semitism in the ranks of the left was, according to the report, that she was not aware of the full extent of the problem. Der Spiegel writes: “Of course, according to Eralp, she knew that many of her party friends, especially in the Neukölln district association, were very committed to the issue of Palestine - but she did not think that border crossings could also occur at individual events during the election campaign.”

According to its own information, Der Spiegel asked: “By that you mean the terrorist sympathizer Ibrahim Ibrahim, who described the chief planner of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 as a “martyr hero” and was at the election party in Neukölln.” According to the report, Eralp answers: Yes. According to Spiegel, this question and the answer are deleted from the authorized version.

In addition, according to the report, there are several internal comments from Eralp, including with reference to organized crime (OK): "The LKA said at the time that they recommend never naming specific names. Back then it was about OK. Now it's about people with contacts to Hamas. I can't put myself and my family in danger for SPIEGEL. What do we do now? Cancel the whole interview?", the magazine quotes from the comments. And: “Up until now, when they mentioned several incidents, including Ibrahin (incorrect spelling in the original quote), I generally condemned it, but now it is present individually.”

According to the democ association, which deals with anti-democratic movements, Ibrahim Ibrahim is a long-time activist of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which is classified as a terrorist organization in the EU and the USA. After the House of Representatives election in September, he was at an election party for the Left Party in Neukölln.

Eralp's spokesman told Spiegel in a later email that the politician, as a candidate for mayor, had been exposed to insults, threats and hostility on a daily basis for months, the magazine said. Then the Spiegel quotes verbatim: “In view of this general threat situation, security authorities advise not to pin political problems on individual people in public statements, especially if their alleged connections to organized crime or terrorist organizations have been reported in the media.”

The Berlin SPD chairman Steffen Krach sees himself confirmed by the "Spiegel" report about the left-wing election winner's concern for the safety of her family. “First of all, this shocks me because it shows that we have a serious problem with organized crime in this city,” said Krach in Berlin. “That’s why the SPD said from the start that we have to strengthen the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, we have to strengthen the police.”

There should be no place for organized crime in Berlin. And: "There shouldn't be any Hamas sympathizers here in this city who can move around freely. I don't want these terrorists in this city."

It is still too early to assess the events described in “Spiegel”. “I haven't spoken to Ms. Eralp personally about it at all and it's appropriate to wait and see, whatever the actual situation is,” said Krach. It is too early to evaluate this down to the last detail.

After the "Spiegel" report about Berlin's left-wing top candidate Elif Eralp's fear of Hamas sympathizers, CDU mayoral candidate Stefan Evers has called for political consequences. In the “Bild” newspaper on Thursday, Evers appealed to the SPD and the Greens to notice the “warning signals” and react before coalition negotiations begin. “It’s not too late to draw conclusions.”

The Left, the Greens and the SPD held exploratory talks after the election to the House of Representatives and could begin coalition negotiations as soon as possible following the approval of a left-wing party conference on Saturday - although a coalition led by the CDU would also have a majority.

Evers said, "Today's revelations reinforce the great concern about a state government led by the Berlin Left Party." The question arises as to how Eralp, as Governing Mayor of Berlin, wants to guarantee the safety of millions of people when she herself is “afraid of the Islamist environment in her party”.

Berlin's former SPD mayor Michael Müller considers the left-wing election winner Elif Eralp to be potentially blackmailed after the "Spiegel" report about her concerns for the safety of her family. If Eralp doesn't dare to clearly state in an interview what she wants to take action against - "that would mean that the governing mayor is open to blackmail. You have to say that so clearly," said Müller on the Phoenix television station.

In such a case, she would not be free to carry out her duties. “If that is true, there is a significant need for clarification and I believe another major hurdle on the way to a coalition with this party.”