Eralp reacts to “Spiegel” report: Elif Eralp “doesn’t want to be intimidated by anyone”

afp/dpa/kna | After a media report about her fear of Hamas supporters, Berlin's left-wing top candidate and favorite for the office of governing mayor, Elif Eralp, appeared emphatically combative. “I will not let anyone intimidate me,” Eralp told journalists on Thursday on the sidelines of the inaugural session of the Berlin House of Representatives. However, the fact that she is worried about her family is completely normal and a given.

Der Spiegel had quoted from an internal note from Eralp, according to which her husband and she were “afraid of these people”. This statement is said to refer to the Hamas sympathizer Ibrahim Ibrahim. Eralp did not want to comment directly on the report; it was “private, internal content,” she said in her statement on Thursday.

But she makes a promise to all Berliners that she will take action “with all the means at my disposal” against organized crime as well as against organizations that glorify violence and against violence and terror. “This fight is a top priority for me and the future coalition,” said the politician.

According to the technically responsible deputy head of the SPD parliamentary group, internal statements by the Berlin left-wing election winner Elif Eralp raise questions about internal security. “As political representatives, it is of fundamental importance to us that we advocate compliance with the legal system and equip the security authorities in such a way that this is guaranteed,” said Sonja Eichwede to the German Press Agency. Rule of law principles should “under no circumstances be questioned”. Eichwede said with regard to Eralp: "If the commitment to law and order itself results in dangers, security authorities also protect against these. The trust of the population is based on these constitutional principles."

Berlin's left-wing top candidate Elif Eralp wants to take action against Spiegel after publishing internal comments on an interview. As the news portal Politico reported on Thursday, citing party circles, the Left is planning to file a complaint with the German Press Council. The focus is likely to be on the question of whether Spiegel was allowed to make public confidential comments from the authorization process for an interview with Eralp that were obviously not intended for publication.

What is explosive is that Eralp explicitly pointed out possible dangers for herself and her family if she spoke out about Hamas sympathizers. In terms of press law, it could therefore be a matter of balancing the public's interest in information about the statements of a possible head of government and the protection of her personal rights and her private security.

After the publication of internal statements by Berlin's top left-wing politician Elif Eralp, the Greens have thrown their support behind Eralp. Green parliamentary group leader Bettina Jarasch expressed confidence in a red-green-red coalition led by Eralp on Thursday. “A future red-green-red coalition, with Governing Mayor Elif Eralp at the helm, will make combating anti-Semitism, organized crime and extremism a priority,” said Jarasch. “That’s what matters.” Jarasch said that this fight must be carried out with all the rigor. “We expect this from all potential coalition partners and we expect it too.”

The Vice President of the German Bundestag, Bodo Ramelow (Left) has criticized Spiegel's reporting on the top candidate of the Berlin Left Party, Elif Eralp, as "more than questionable". This means that “a person who feels unprotected and communicates this internally is specifically injured – and made even more unprotected,” Ramelow told Stern. Purely internal communication is used “to show a weak woman”. This is an “anachronistic cliche”.

The magazine tried to “exploit a weak point and use it to create a rhetorical question about whether this woman could even be the governing mayor,” said Ramelow. He thinks this is irresponsible. According to the left-wing politician, Eralp is in a “difficult and painful” process: “She is currently learning that she is in danger and she is trying to deal with it.” All politicians in Germany would have to learn this at some point, from the mayor to the Federal Chancellor.

The President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, reacted with horror to a Spiegel report that Berlin's left-wing leading candidate Elif Eralp is afraid of terrorist sympathizers in the capital. “The powerlessness of the party leadership and the fear that Ms. Eralp seems to feel personally shock me – but they don’t surprise me,” Schuster told the magazine. “The left is incapable of distancing itself from terror sympathizers and anti-Semites.”

Schuster added: "Ms. Eralp may now be better able to understand the growing sense of insecurity that has long existed for the Jewish community." He appealed to the Left's possible coalition partners to refrain from forming a joint alliance: "The Greens and the SPD have an obligation not to give this Left government responsibility for Berlin or for the security of the Jewish community."

Berlin's Left Party leader Maximilian Schirmer has defended his party colleague Elif Eralp. “Anyone who cares about themselves or their family doesn’t have to be ashamed of it,” he told journalists in the Berlin House of Representatives. “Elif Eralp and many others have been exposed to hostility, threats and insults for months.” “The security authorities have repeatedly told us that political problems should not be linked to individual people, but rather to individual statements,” said Schirmer.

“The fact that these safety concerns have been ignored here leaves us deeply concerned.” The Left will stand up for the safety of Berliners “as a top priority”. This applies to protection against violence, glorification of violence, terror and glorification of terror, but also insults and hostility. The task is also to ensure social security and an affordable Berlin.

The Berlin SPD leader and top candidate Steffen Krach has indirectly distanced himself from his possible coalition partner Elif Eralp (Left). “Whoever wants to govern this city must clearly identify dangers and protect Berlin from them,” he told “Welt” on Thursday. “Neither clan bosses nor Ibrahim Ibrahim are allowed to have anything to say in Berlin.”

“Berlin’s security is the top priority and it is completely clear that we must take tough action against organized crime and terrorist supporters,” Krach told the world. "To this end, we are also strengthening the police and the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. We expect this clarity from all those responsible for politics."

The chairman of the parliamentary committee for the control of the secret services (PKGr), Marc Henrichmann (CDU), has expressed doubts about the ability of left-wing politician Elif Eralp to govern in the capital. “How could someone lead the German capital politically who is already unable to act because of fear of the ‘false friends’?” Henrichmann told the Rheinische Post (Friday edition). “Now Ms. Eralp is hit hard by the reality of left-wing extremist and terrorist-affiliated infiltration, which she has apparently ignored so far for political reasons,” said Henrichmann. The security authorities “also needed resources and backing to protect Ms. Eralp’s family in order to be able to resolutely combat any form of extremist, terrorist and anti-Semitic infiltration.”

Green security politician Konstantin von Notz also reacted with horror to the Spiegel report about Eralp. “The process is blatant and irritating,” von Notz told the editorial network Germany (RND, Friday editions). The structures of organized crime and their negative effects on security in Berlin are “as real as the existing connections between these structures and terrorist organizations”. Anyone who wants to take on government responsibility must “address these problems with political determination,” emphasized the Green parliamentary group vice-president. “The very first and lowest basis” for this is “to clearly state these problems”.

Berlin's governing mayor Kai Wegner has called for a clear stance against extremists. “Of course it shouldn’t be the case that politicians have to fear for their families or for themselves,” explained the CDU politician on Platform "A government must adhere to the law at all times and resolutely confront extremists and criminals. It must never make its actions dependent on these structures - and it must certainly not be afraid of them," demanded Wegner.

“There are people in the Berlin Left’s environment who endanger Berlin’s security and consciously want to attack public order,” warned Wegner. “The answer to this must never be to look away or remain silent, and certainly not to deny the problems, as parts of the Berlin left do.”

The domestic policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, Sebastian Fiedler, reacted with horror to revelations in Spiegel that Berlin's left-wing top candidate Elif Eralp is apparently intimidated by Hamas sympathizers in the capital. The condition of the left in Berlin is “much worse than feared,” Fiedler told Focus magazine on Thursday. The former criminal police officer spoke of a structural ability to connect with the extremist and terrorist milieu, which had “reached an unimagined extent”. Eralp's statements absolutely required consequences, said SPD politician Fiedler: "For any Social Democrat, further discussions about a coalition with this party are out of the question." If anyone still had doubts, “they should now be resolved,” emphasized Fiedler.

The German-Israeli Society (DIG) has expressed concern after the publication of internal statements by Berlin left-wing leader Elif Eralp, in which she expressed fear of Hamas sympathizers. “A party whose leadership members do not dare to name the terrorist dangers” is “not up to the security policy tasks of a state government,” explained DIG chairman Volker Beck on Thursday. “Anyone who puts the security of this city and its people in the hands of the left is endangering human lives.”

“You have to be afraid of Ibrahim Ibrahim and the Left Neukölln environment,” explained Beck. It is “not primarily” about fear “of their anti-Semitic propaganda, but first and foremost of terrorist attacks on Jews and pro-Israel targets.” “Because people in the left-wing leadership are afraid, there are no consequences for expressions of sympathy for anti-Semitic terror,” explained Beck. It is therefore “not in a position to take courageous and decisive legal action against the terrorist environment and the structures of organized crime”.

The Left won the Berlin House of Representatives election in September. The Greens and the SPD have already spoken out in favor of coalition negotiations following the conclusion of exploratory talks. The Berlin Left will decide on this at a party conference on Saturday.

According to a Spiegel report, Eralp, who wants to become Governing Mayor of Berlin, sees her family's safety at risk 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.