Berlin’s result is more than a local upset; it warns Germany and the world. With 25.7%, Die Linke is now the capital’s strongest force. That day, the far-right AfD won Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania; two weeks earlier, it took nearly 44% in Saxony-Anhalt. Germany’s democratic center is hollowing out as extremes fill its abandoned space.
Rising antisemitism and support for terrorism
Jewish Berliners feel their city slipping away. Israeli ambassador Ron Prosor warns of a “concrete and immediate existential threat” to Jewish life. Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, sees a “deep structural problem” within Die Linke. The party made Palestine a campaign issue alongside rent and housing.
Basem Said campaigned under the slogan “For Neukölln. For Palestine” and shared a call for a “Wahlintifada”—an electoral intifada. Arabic videos, keffiyehs, Palestinian flags and “Free Palestine” chants marked events. At one event, a rapper praised the PFLP terror group as the crowd chanted “Yalla Intifada” and “Death to the IDF.” Foreign policy became local politics, while antisemitism was denied or repackaged as Israel criticism.
Die Linke’s youth organization minimized Hamas’s terrorism, demanded the destruction of Israel and the IDF, and invoked Israeli “concentration camps.” Its 2025 congress called Israel colonial and racist. In June, Die Linke’s federal congress falsely declared Israel’s war against Hamas a “genocide.”
Die Linke casts these accusations as suppression of legitimate Israel criticism, but the boundary is clear. The IHRA definition and Natan Sharansky’s “three-D test” identify demonization, double standards, and delegitimization—portraying Israel as uniquely evil, judging it by standards applied to no other democracy, or denying Jewish self-determination. When Hamas terrorism is relativized, and Israel’s self-defense condemned in advance, “Israel criticism” crosses into antisemitism.
Die Linke emerged from the PDS, successor to East Germany’s ruling SED, whose regime made anti-Zionism state doctrine, supported Yasser Arafat’s PLO politically, financially and militarily, and never established diplomatic relations with Israel.
On election night, clan boss Issa Remmo attended Die Linke’s celebration, saying he finally felt represented. Ibrahim Ibrahim, identified by German media as a PFLP supporter, posed with politicians after reportedly praising October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar as a “steadfast leader” and “martyr hero.”
Die Linke’s agenda raises concern. It wants to redirect police funds, substitute social work for policing and abolish domestic intelligence. Mayoral candidate Elif Eralp criticizes the term “clan crime.” Police unions reported reactions among officers ranging from “total catastrophe” to “looking for a new job.”
Never Again?
For more than one in four Berlin voters, this record was not disqualifying. Less than a century after the Holocaust, a party carrying this legacy has become the strongest force in Germany’s capital—a profound historical rupture that renders hollow Germany’s pledge of “Never again” and its promise to protect Jewish life.
Germany’s response exposes a double standard: Far-right antisemitism is rightly treated as a threat; far-left and Islamist antisemitism are minimized. It is no less dangerous when called anti-Zionism or wrapped in a Palestinian flag. Berlin proves Germany can no longer afford to turn a blind eye. That blindness reflects a broader failure.
Mainstream parties ceded concerns over uncontrolled migration, failed integration, public safety, housing and economic decline to the fringes. That does not excuse extremist votes, but it explains their appeal. In Thuringia, AfD and Die Linke votes have already produced joint majorities. The extremes need no formal alliance to weaken the democratic center.
Berlin’s coalition is the immediate test. SPD and Greens must answer Bundestag President Julia Klöckner’s question: Where do you stand on antisemitism? Michel Friedman, former vice president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, warned that governing with a party tolerating antisemitic extremists and Islamists seeking Israel’s destruction would shatter their credibility. Yet CDU, Greens and SPD hold 82 of 158 seats—a narrow majority—without Die Linke.
SPD also faces an internal reckoning: Parts of its progressive, pro-Palestinian wing show the same erosion of boundaries. Will its democratic mainstream draw a line against the extreme left? If SPD and Greens bring Die Linke into government, Germany’s Staatsräson—its commitment to Israel’s security—and its promise to protect Jewish life will be gravely damaged. The choice is between Jewish life and democratic responsibility, and political power alongside a party with this record.
This warning extends beyond Berlin and eastern Germany—to Germany’s Jews and everyone concerned about the democratic future of the West. Mainstream parties must reclaim abandoned issues and confront extremism consistently—before more Jewish families wonder not whether to pack their suitcases, but when to use them.
Sacha Stawski is president of Honestly Concerned, a German initiative combating antisemitism and biased coverage of Israel and the Middle East. He also chairs I Like Israel (ILI), a German pro-Israel organization.
This op-ed is published in partnership with a coalition of organizations that fight antisemitism across the world. Read the previous article by Adam Milstein.