In an article for the Tagesspiegel, Left Party MPs Dietmar Bartsch, Gregor Gysi and Bodo Ramelow attack the Israel opponents within their own party.
We are deeply concerned about the rapid rise of antisemitism in society. In Germany, Jews no longer dare to speak Hebrew in public for fear of attacks; residential buildings with Jewish inhabitants are marked with swastikas, and Jewish cultural projects with Hamas triangles.
The Working Group of Research and Information Centers on Antisemitism (RIAS) has recorded a doubling of attacks on memorials to victims of National Socialism. Previously, these attacks came almost exclusively from the right wing. Since October 7, 2023, one in seven attacks has been linked to the Middle East conflict.
The words "From the River to the Sea" were spray-painted on the wall of the Neuengamme concentration camp memorial. Several Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) commemorating Jews murdered by Germans in Cologne were defaced with "BDS." Others were marked with "Jews are perpetrators." Stickers reading "Israel murders" were found at the Ahlem memorial, and "Jews are committing genocide" was found on a memorial for Nazi victims in Berlin.
These acts are shameful. The Left comes from an anti-fascist tradition. We, too, bear the responsibility for remembering the Nazi crimes and the historical responsibility of Germans towards the largest victim groups of German fascism, especially the six million Jews who were exterminated in a meticulously planned, industrial-scale mass murder.
We do not forget how this murder was prepared: It was preceded by the social exclusion of Germany's Jewish population, boycotts of Jewish businesses, and systematic dehumanization and demonization. We are also aware of our history and the antisemitic excesses of Stalinism, which - disguised as anti-Zionism - met with too little resistance in East Germany.
We will not allow our special, historical responsibility as Germans and as leftists to be relativized. The International Court of Justice is deliberating and deciding the question of whether the Israeli government can be accused of committing genocide against the Palestinian people. Anyone who thinks in terms of the rule of law refrains from prejudgment and awaits the court's decision.
We resolutely oppose activists within our party and their circles who call themselves anti-Zionist but actually believe that Israel should disappear from the map. This must never become the norm or official policy within our party, Die Linke.
Die Linke is internationalist; that, too, is part of our tradition. As a political force in one of the world's largest economies, we see it as our responsibility to work towards ending hunger and conflict worldwide. That is why we stand up for the Palestinians, because we see that they are oppressed both by the right-wing Israeli government and by the Islamist death squads of Hamas and Hezbollah, who, hand in hand with the mullah regime, bring terror and insecurity to the region.
A major problem on the left is the rampant black-and-white thinking, which has too little to do with the outcome and those affected by politics - in this case, the Palestinians - and too much to do with self-affirmation. Who are you for, Israel or Palestine?
Our answer to this question must be: For both, never either/or. Not only because we commit ourselves to the two-state solution in our fundamental program, but because, according to our humanistic convictions, no other option exists.
Our motions in parliaments and at our party conferences must, of course, be both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel. What they must not be is anti-Israel and anti-Palestinian. We strongly condemn the settlements in the West Bank, which violate international law, and the violence perpetrated by Israelis living there.
It is right to strongly condemn the Israeli government for waging war in Gaza, for excluding aid organizations, and for the oppression and attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank. But what about the terrorist dictatorship of Hamas and Hezbollah at home? What about the responsibility of the neighboring Arab states? In our view, only one unequivocal stance is possible in the Middle East conflict: in favor of the universality of human rights.
"For a peaceful solution, it is necessary to consistently oppose the hardliners on both sides," we decided in Halle, and it is a very true statement. Likewise, this: "A solution can only be found if the legitimate interests of Israelis and Palestinians are finally recognized and international human rights are guaranteed for all, without double standards." This should continue to be the benchmark for our actions.
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