Berlin: Left Alliance at risk for differences over the Middle East

A a possible municipal coalition for Berlin between left-wing parties has suffered a setback today, with the Greens and Social Democrats announcing the interruption of negotiations with the radical left, winner of the elections, for disagreements over the Middle East.

“ At the moment, we need to stop the exploratory discussions to assess whether our agreement last week still stands,” said the list heads of the Greens, Werner Graf, and SPD, Steffen Krach, after the formation of the local parliamentary group of Die Linke.

The question, according to the German media, is the permanence in Vanessa's group. Emde, an elected Neukölln, a neighborhood with a large Arab population, criticized, like the local section of the party, for its positions on Palestine.

The conflict in the Middle East has a particular resonance in Germany, due to the atrocities of the Nazi period that the country lived, and that led Berlin to promote Israel’s security as a “state reason.”.

On Thursday, the three parties, including Die Linke, had signed a “binding” letter against anti-Semitism, and reiterated defending “Israel’s right to exist”, preconditions for the start of the first negotiations aimed at the formation of a municipal majority.

But Die Linke concluded today “other arrangements within his group”, lamented Werner Graf and Steffen Krach, who now expect from the radical left an indication. “We need to be clearly told to what extent you want to take seriously and implement the agreements we have established,” they said.

On Monday, Chancellor Friedrich Merz pressed his social-democratic allies into the government, stating that an agreement with Die Linke in Berlin would be an extra “burden” for the coalition.

“What concerns us deeply is the widespread anti-Semitism in this party,” Merz said.