Vanesse Emde is sick – Berlin Left Group Board Adjourns Debate

Vanessa Emde: Invitation for the next session repeated next Tuesday

Actually, the Berlin left wanted to clarify its position on anti-Semitism and Israel together with MP Vanessa Emde. Emde had triggered several discussions because of her positions critical of Israel – she could threaten the expulsion from the left group in the House of Deputies.

At the digital Board meeting, however, Emde reported ill. The group executive has now repeated the invitation to Vanessa Emde for the next meeting next Tuesday. The group will continue the discussions on the topic in the coming week, a spokesman for the group informed the SPIEGEL.

The newly elected member of parliament from Neukölln had strongly focused on the issue of Palestine solidarity in the election campaign. Among other things, she had argued that there was no right to exist for states, but only for people. Last Thursday, she repeated this explicitly in an Instagram video. I stand by my statements and I do not take back any of them. ‘

Emde also criticized a statement on anti-Semitism, which she, like all members of the left, had signed two days earlier. In it, the signatories acknowledge, among other things, the right of Israel to exist. After Emde’s criticism, the group leaders declared that they no longer see any basis for cooperation with her.

In the Berlin election on September 20, the left had become the strongest force with 25.7 percent. This is followed by the CDU (18.8 percent), AfD (16.3 percent), Greens (14.3 percent) and – with their historically worst result – the SPD (12.1 percent). The current ruling CDU/SPD coalition has lost its majority. Now an attempt is being made to form a red-green-red government. If this succeeds, the head of the Left Party Elif Eralp could become the first governing mayor of her party in Berlin.

On an exploratory paper presented last Saturday, the Left, the Greens and the SPD had agreed in temporarily laborious negotiations. The discussion about a consistent approach to anti-Semitism, fueled by several incidents in the ranks of the left, made the talks more difficult.

A Berlin alliance against anti-Semitism appealed to the Greens and SPD not to start coalition talks with the left. "There must be no coalition with this party," it said in an open letter. “We are very concerned that the Left Party does not clearly oppose anti-Semitism in its own ranks,” the authors of the letter said. In demonstrations, representatives of the Left Party are marching partly side by side with anti-Israel activists. According to its own statements, the alliance includes "committed citizens".

Before the soundings, the Left, the Greens and the SPD had agreed on a joint declaration on anti-Semitism, which should be included in the coalition agreement if a government is formed. Sanctions are envisaged for violations of the agreed principles up to the exclusion of groups.