Jewish life in Germany is ‘no longer safe,’ chancellor warns as far-left takes power in Berlin after ‘election intifada’

With Jewish life under fire across the world, two consecutive state election victories by Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) have justifiably drawn attention.

However, the most serious harm to Jewish life in Germany could well come from last weekend’s victory by the far-left Die Linke (The Left) in the capital Berlin. Leaders from across the political spectrum, Jewish community leaders and the Israeli ambassador are sounding the alarm about what they describe as extreme anti-Israeli and antisemitic positions within the party.

Die Linke, the successor of the SED party that led East Germany’s dictatorship until reunification in 1990, won the Berlin city-state elections on Sunday with 25.7% of the vote, defeating the traditional largest parties, CDU and SPD, by significant margins.

If Die Linke can convince the center-left SPD and the Green Party to join a coalition, it could rule a unified Berlin for the first time. The city has the largest Jewish community in Germany, with around 50,000 people, which also includes thousands of Israeli expats.

The German capital has been at the center of anti-Israel protests since Oct. 7, 2023. The protests have often included clashes with the police and have been dominated by the city’s growing Arabic- and Muslim-background population, as well as its large population of left-wing radicals.

The party’s campaign explicitly targeted these groups. In a recent example, the candidate Basem Said urged his voters to wage an “election intifada,” while accusing the centrist parties of “enforcing the same racist consensus." He continued, "They have suppressed our civil rights, normalized anti-Arab demonization, actively supported the [Israeli] genocide, and voted for arms smuggling to the Israeli regime.”

“Vote for the Left. Stand fearlessly for the rights of migrants and the liberation of Palestine,” Said urged voters. His campaign slogan is: “For Neukölln. For migration. For Palestine.”

The already latently antisemitic Die Linke has seen rapid changes over the past years. “The party has been infiltrated in recent years,” explained Israeli-Arab extremism expert Ahmad Mansour in an interview with Focus.

Kann mich an dieses Kapitel in „Unterwerfung“ gar nicht erinnern pic.twitter.com/FbPKfenVGT

— Beatrice Achterberg (@BeaBovary) September 17, 2026

“After the death of George Floyd in the United States in 2020, identity politics became very influential… the white majority society supposedly oppresses all migrants and all Muslims. Then came Hamas’s attack on Israel, and suddenly members began arguing over the issue of Israel. The postcolonial ideology that views Israel as the last colonial project, demonizes it, and regards the Palestinians exclusively as victims is now predominant within the party,” said Mansour.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, whose CDU has now been trounced in multiple successive state elections, lamented, “The fact that Jewish life is no longer safe in Germany is the heaviest burden of recent years.”

“The CDU, and I personally, are committed to doing everything possible to ensure that Jewish life in Germany, and here in the capital, Berlin, is safe,” Merz said, vowing to Jewish communities in Berlin and worldwide that what has become possible in Berlin’s streets “is a disgrace for Germany, and I will do everything in my power to bring it under control and push it back.”

Merz also urged moderate left-wing parties not to cooperate with Die Linke. “I very much hope that the SPD in particular, but also the Greens, will give a very clear response here, especially here in Berlin,” Merz added.

Das starke Abschneiden der Linken bei der Berlin-Wahl muss jeden beunruhigen, dem das Fortbestehen jüdischen Lebens in dieser Stadt am Herzen liegt

Der völlig enthemmte Antisemitismus, der sich in dieser Partei Bahn gebrochen hat, bekommt mit ihrem Aufstieg zur stärksten Kraft… pic.twitter.com/9xRFoxdMF2

— Ambassador Ron Prosor (@Ron_Prosor) September 22, 2026

Israel’s ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, stressed that the party’s performance “must concern anyone who cares about the continued existence of Jewish life in this city. The completely unrestrained antisemitism that has emerged within this party takes on a new political dimension with its rise to become the strongest political force.”

Following an election campaign filled with antisemitic controversies, Prosor noted that “recent incidents at the election-night parties demonstrate this. We are no longer talking about isolated lapses, but about a system. New red lines are being crossed again and again.”

At the victory party, Die Linke lawmaker Ferat Kocak was photographed with Ibrahim Ibrahim, a well-known pro-Palestinian activist and member of the terror group PFLP. According to Tagesspiegel, he once described Yahya Sinwar, the slain Hamas mastermind of the Oct. 7 attacks, as a “martyr hero.”

Kocak justified his appearance with Ibrahim by arguing that he didn’t know who he was and distanced himself from “statements praising violence and terrorism.”

Aus aktuellem Anlass:
10. Juni 2025, Berlin: Ferat Koçak hält eine Rede. Einen Meter neben ihm steht Ibrahim Ibrahim, den der Berliner Verfassungsschutz als langjährigen PFLP-Aktivisten führt. Hinter ihm steht Hannah Bruns von der LAG Palästinasolidarität der Berliner Linken, die… pic.twitter.com/3udfprLDyB

— Jüdisches Forum (JFDA e.V.) (@JFDA_eV) September 22, 2026

But images showed that Issa Remmo, the infamous head of the Berlin-based Lebanese crime family, was at the party as well. Die Linke at first denied any connections, but then chats between Kocak and the crime boss’s son became public. The younger Remmo commented that he and Kocak “fight for our goals together.”

Asked about Israel’s right to exist last year, Kocak said, “People have a right to exist – not states.”

In June, Die Linke party passed a resolution designating Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip as a “genocide.” In September, a rapper called for “Yalla Yalla Intifada” and “Death to the IDF” at a campaign event.

The performance by rapper “Dahabflex,” who also chanted praise for the terror group PFLP as part of his song “Stop the Genocide,” drew considerable controversy, though apparently not enough to derail the party’s successful campaign.

The party’s lead candidate in Berlin, and possible future mayor, Elif Eralp, subsequently condemned the performance, saying that “calls for violence and the killing of people are absolutely unacceptable” and adding, “Those responsible should have intervened immediately.”

After the election, party co-chair Ines Schwerdtner rejected accusations of antisemitism, arguing that “criticism of the Israeli government and the Israeli military should not be equated with antisemitism.”

“While we want to address the real problem of antisemitism, it must also be possible to criticize the Israeli government and military. These war crimes must be addressed just as much as the very real antisemitism and hatred of Jews in Germany,” she said.

However, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, responded that the party has no credibility in the fight against Jew hatred: “The fact that a party on whose campaign stage the death of people was openly demanded emerged as the winner of the election worries me deeply. To date, there have been no personnel or political consequences.”

On the contrary, senior figures have been leaving the party over this issue. In March, the antisemitism commissioner for the German state of Brandenburg resigned, citing an anti-Israel resolution by the party’s youth delegation in Lower Saxony, as well as harassment from within his party.

“It’s no longer possible. And I can’t go on … without betraying my own convictions,” Büttner wrote in a statement.

“You cannot claim to stand alongside Jewish life while events involving antisemites are being held or defended,” he added.