Left calls for Vanessa Emde to resign: “That’s enough!”

taz: The left has been under fire for weeks. There is also criticism internally, for example on the Middle East issue. How should the Berlin Left deal with this?

Katalin Gennburg: For me, I've reached a point where I think that's enough. We must draw a line under this unspeakable debate and end the campaign against our party. When leftists show solidarity with people like Ibrahim Ibrahim, as Berlin MP Vanessa Emde does, they cross a line. Vedi refuses to distance herself from Ibrahim, so I believe she should give back her mandate. This Ibrahim glorifies Hamas. We cannot accept that we, as a whole party, are accused of glorifying terrorism because of such isolated statements.

taz: Emde has often been criticized for this, for example after the election party in September. Why are you only calling for their exclusion now?

was born in 1984 in Weißenfels in the GDR and studied urban studies in Berlin. She was a member of the Federal Executive Board of the Left from 2016 to 2021 and deputy chairwoman in Berlin in 2023. She won the direct mandate for the House of Representatives three times. In 2025 she entered the Bundestag via the Berlin state list.

Gennburg: When comrades say they are afraid, I take it very seriously. This became clear last week at the latest through Elif Eralp's Spiegel interview. That changed something, also for me personally.

Gennburg: I ​​know what it's like to be afraid as a politician. As a politician, I too had to take protective measures due to threats when calls were made to publish my address in right-wing chats. Even when I was fighting with the biggest construction lions, I thought: “Oh God, oh God, am I actually putting myself in danger by putting a stop to such powerful people?” Hearing that Elif is afraid, including for her family, shocked me deeply.

taz: You yourself often rebelled in the state executive committee and in the House of Representatives, for example against your comrade Klaus Lederer. Isn’t dissent part of your party’s DNA?

Gennburg: Yes, of course, I am totally in favor of rebellious, grassroots democratic politics. But I also always supported the joint decisions in the end. It is the damn job of politicians to do exactly that, we are elected representatives after all. If it is not possible for a comrade to adhere to the majority decisions of our wonderful party, she simply has to get out. We on the left wing in particular have always said: A mandate is not private property, but is always won in cooperation with the party, which is supported by many activists. But Emde is no longer concerned with factual issues, but only with self-profiling and division.

taz: How did Emde violate the Left's decisions?

Gennburg: With her solidarity with Ibrahim Ibrahim, she has finally crossed the border. It is also not possible to deny Israel's right to exist. She could say something like: "Of course we support Israel's right to exist. Furthermore, I believe that left-wing criticism of the state is important." That would be completely fine. But she didn't do that. She draws no line with Ibrahim Ibrahim and organizations that glorify terror. You have to put a stop sign there.

taz: Are you also calling for Emde to be excluded from the party?

Gennburg: That's other people's job.

Gennburg: At that time, I also requested that Sahra Wagenknecht be expelled from the party because there was no other option. I'm really not keen on constantly requesting party exclusions.

taz: Many say that the Left won constituencies like Neukölln precisely because of positions like those in Emde. How are you going to explain to voters if your candidate is not allowed to take part?

Gennburg: We don't yet have a solid election analysis, which means there is no evidence whatsoever as to whether the Left, for example in Neukölln, was elected for its solidarity with Gaza. In the constituency in which Vedi ran, the left was strong long before she ran; we already had almost 30 percent in the previous election. So she didn't run and suddenly become the hottest, but in Neukölln, by the way, long before October 7th and also before Ferat Kocak's candidacy, leftists started campaigning on doorsteps and organizing in the neighborhood years ago. There was an overall mood of change in Berlin. I find it presumptuous and presumptuous to stand up and say that because I am so supportive of Palestine, we won Neukölln. No, we didn't, the success in Neukölln was hard earned over a decade - and not by Vedi Emde.

taz: If Emde is really excluded, it would definitely receive some solidarity. Wouldn't that actually cement the split in the party?

Gennburg: I ​​know my party very well. We have 130,000 members. I know that there are a lot of members who are waiting for these quarrels to stop and for the legitimate demands of many members to be fulfilled, to come together now and implement the election promises. And I would like to emphasize once again: Our decisions allow for a wide range of opinions on the Middle East. But apart from Emde, there is really no one in the current parliamentary group in the House of Representatives who represents such positions. Not even with comrades who are very supportive of Palestine, such as Martha Kleedörfer. She also has controversial positions, for example she once submitted a proposal to raise a Palestine flag in front of the Mitte town hall. But she always did something like that in a democratic discourse and always within the framework of the party. There are many people on the left who say: Palestine solidarity, yes. Glorification of terror? No. We as the left simply have to clarify this now.