Berlin left-wing faction discusses expulsion of MP Emde

Berlin left-wing faction Still no decision on controversial Emde As of: October 28, 2026 • 8:25 a.m

The Berlin left-wing faction has still not found a solution in dealing with MP Emde. What happens next remains unclear. Emde is criticized, among other things, for her statements about Israel's right to exist.

The Berlin Left has not yet found a solution in dealing with MP Vanessa Emde, who is controversial because of her criticism of Israel. After a meeting of the parliamentary group executive board with Emde and a meeting of the entire parliamentary group, a spokesman simply said on Tuesday that they still did not see any common basis for working with the MP. What happens next remains unclear. This will be discussed and decided in the committees, said the spokesman.

The parliamentary group board had already discussed the matter in a digital meeting last week. However, the Neukölln MP Emde, who was invited, called in sick at the time and did not take part in the meeting.

The newly elected MP from Neukölln focused heavily on the issue of Palestine solidarity during the election campaign and criticized Israel. Among other things, she declared that there is no right to exist for states, only for people. On October 15, she explicitly repeated this in an Instagram video: "I stand by my statements and I don't take back a single one of these statements."

There, Emde also criticized a statement on anti-Semitism that she, like all Left party members, had signed two days earlier. In it, the signatories acknowledge, among other things, Israel's right to exist. Immediately after Emde's criticism, the parliamentary group executive committee stated that it no longer saw a common working basis with Emde.

The chairman of the Jewish Community in Berlin, Gideon Joffe, spoke out against a possible expulsion of Emde from the parliamentary group. "We are absolutely against it, because what Vanessa Emde said in the sense of the accusation that states have no right to exist is absolutely correct," said Joffe on rbb24 Inforadio: "Because the existence of states is, if you like, an absolute stroke of luck." When Emde said that she was generally against the existence of states because everyone should live where they wanted, that was "an absolutely legitimate opinion," emphasized Joffe.

Nevertheless, Emde made anti-Semitic comments, said Joffe: "Because she has been confronting Israel with allegations of genocide for some time and that is what is anti-Semitic." The chairman was referring to accusations against the Israeli state that its actions in the Gaza Strip are carrying out genocide against the Palestinian population. South Africa has sued Israel before the United Nations' highest court, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, for genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip [tagesschau.de]. Regardless of this, an independent investigative commission of the UN Human Rights Council came to the conclusion in a report that four of the five offenses mentioned in the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948 had been fulfilled [tagesschau.de].

A possible government alliance with the Left is viewed critically by parts of the SPD and the Greens. Negotiators from the three parties have now presented a joint exploratory paper that will serve as a basis. The Greens and SPD have already approved the start of coalition talks. For the Left, a party conference on Saturday still has to decide whether to start formal negotiations. Meanwhile, the SPD's executive state executive board decided unanimously on Tuesday evening to hold a member vote on a possible coalition agreement. The next step requires a resolution from the entire state executive board - it should meet for a special meeting this week, the state association announced.

Broadcast: rbb24 Abendschau, October 27th, 2026, 7:30 p.m. Video: rbb24 Abendschau, October 27th, 2026, Sebastian Schöbel in a studio conversation with Leonie Schwarzer