Old lines of conflict: Party congress: Middle East dispute caught in the left

After the comeback of the left, old lines of conflict appear in the party on the Middle East conflict and anti-Semitism. At the party congress in Chemnitz, delegate loudness expressed resentment that the left -wing does not condemn Israeli politics in the Gaza war. The party conference then decided to make an application to accuse Israel of war crimes. Against the will of party leader Jan van Aken, a majority also advocated a close concept of anti -Semitism in order to broaden the scope for criticism of Israel.

Van Aken actually didn’t want the Middle East conflict on the agenda. In autumn 2024, the chairman laboriously negotiated a compromise line to the party’s position. Since delegates in Chemnitz nevertheless set the topic, van Aken negotiated a choice of words that the party executive was acceptable.

The decision now states: “Israel uses the starvation of the civilian population as a method to accelerate the sustainable destruction of all livelihoods and permanent forced displacement of the Palestinians: Inside.”

It also says: “The left condemns these war crimes and demands the immediate adequate humanitarian care of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, the reconstruction of civil institutions and infrastructure, in particular houses, hospitals, schools, universities and religious sites.” The decision also demands the release of the hostages of Hamas. The terrorist organization dragged this to Israel on October 7, 2023 in its attack.

Support for “Jerusalem explanation”

If van Aken still made a compromise in this application, the party congress took a further decision over its line: a narrow majority of the delegates stood behind the so -called Jerusalem explanation. This defines anti-Semitism closer than the so-called IRA definition, which the Central Council of Jews supports and which is mostly used in Germany. Van Aken had warned against setting up. Critics at the party congress said that with the SEHA definition “any criticism of the Israeli government could be defamed as anti-Semitism”.

Van Aken criticizes Merz sharply

The two -day party congress had previously celebrated the unexpected success in the Bundestag election and the new unity of the left. In his party speech, van Aken drove sharp attacks against the black-red coalition and above all against the CDU. Their boss Friedrich Merz stands for a policy of the “scapegoats”, for example when he announced sanctions against citizen -lovers. Van Aken spoke of “agitation” and “division” and added: “The CDU has prepared a wonderful nest for the AfD. The AfD sits down into this nest.”

The new black-red government with Federal Chancellor Merz and Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil will not contribute to solving the most pressing problems, including the “horror ranges,” Van Aken continued. The high food prices are not mentioned in the coalition agreement. “They don’t know what’s going on here at all,” he said.

“We don’t leave the East to the Nazis”

The parliamentary group leader in the Bundestag, Sören Pellmann, set the goal of suppressing right parties in the upcoming elections in East Germany. “We don’t leave the east to the Nazis,” said Pellmann. He mentioned the strong AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag and said that the left was “the bulwark against right-wing extremism in the country and in parliament”.

Party leader Ines Schwerdtner showed her candidacy in Berlin-Lichtenberg, “how it works”. Schwerdtner had won the direct mandate for the left in the Bundestag election in the Bundestag election. The AfD politician Beatrix von Storch was the sharpest competitor there. In the coming year there will be state elections in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The Berlin House of Representatives will also be elected in 2026.