The “Spiegel” and Elif Eralp: Who is afraid of Ibrahim Ibrahim?

The dangerous thing about tabloids is not when the news is false, but when it contains a grain of truth. Because it is precisely this little spark that can lead to the entire representation being taken as true. This is also the case with the Ibrahim Ibrahim case, which has kept the Republic in suspense since Thursday morning.

The Hamas sympathizer was the subject of a Spiegel interview with Elif Eralp, the Left Party's top candidate in Berlin, who will soon become the governing mayor. The magazine published an internal memo about the interview in which Eralp writes that she and her husband are “afraid of these people.”

The black-red government is currently responsible for security in Berlin. But neither Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) nor the police have given the taz any information about how dangerous Ibrahim is from their point of view.

The approximately 70-year-old German of Palestinian origin resolutely rejects the accusation of supporting terrorism in a statement from mid-October for the daily newspaper Junge Welt. He did not respond to a query from the taz.

According to media reports, he is said to be chairman of the Palestine Democratic Committee. This association organizes anniversary celebrations for the PLFP, the popular front for the “liberation of Palestine”. Members of the PFLP took part, among other things, in the massacre of October 7, 2023 in Israel. Ibrahim Ibrahim called the mastermind and Hamas boss Jahia Sinwar a “martyred hero” to whom he paid his “respect”.

On Facebook he posted images glorifying violence, such as the one of a man with a keffiyeh, a machine gun and the PFLP logo that reads: “All guns against the enemy, glory to the freedom fighters.” In April 2025, at a demonstration, he celebrated terrorists whom he calls “martyrs” and who gave “their lives” so that “the whole of Palestine “from the river to the sea” would be liberated.” For many, this statement represents Israel-related anti-Semitism, while others see it as a legitimate call for a one-state solution.

While some leftists, including those on the Palestinian solidarity side, want nothing to do with people like Ibrahim, others do not distance themselves from Ibrahim. For example, he was allowed to appear at an Amnesty International rally in front of the Foreign Ministry in Berlin when Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar visited in June 2025.

Ibrahim was on everyone's lips after the Berlin Left's election party on September 20th. Because he showed up there and Bundestag member Ferat Koçak and Vanessa “Vedi” Emde, who had just been elected to the House of Representatives, posed for selfies with Ibrahim.

“Oh no,” says a Neukölln left-wing official to the taz. “Knowing Ibrahim, I can’t understand why people are afraid of him.” From the perspective of the left, an “unnecessary uprising” is being made around Ibrahim. “His relationship with Hamas is tricky, so I'm becoming more and more cautious with him,” explains the Neukölln native, who doesn't want his name in the newspaper so as not to endanger his party's alliance work.

The State Working Group (LAG) Shalom, which is committed to protecting Jewish life in the Left Party, comes to a completely different assessment. “The last three years have shown that actors like Ibrahim Ibrahim pose a real danger,” writes the taz speakers’ council. These leftists emphasize that Ibrahim “has proven contacts with the terrorist organization PFLP, which was involved in the pogroms of October 7th.” If Elif Eralp is afraid of Ibrahim Ibrahim and his political environment, that is by no means unfounded.

Journalists have also had negative experiences with Ibrahim. He recently tackled Springer man Iman Sefati. According to Reporters Without Borders, there are regular attacks on media professionals from this milieu - including those on the left.

The bottom line is that Ibrahim may be a fanatical hater of Israel and an unpleasant demagogue whose environment does not shy away from psychological terror. You can be afraid of that. But even if Der Spiegel wants to give the impression: Ibrahim is certainly not the most dangerous man in Germany.