Accusation of anti-Semitism against the Left Party – Reiche has to delete Instagram video

Federal Minister of Economics Katherina Reiche (CDU) has to temporarily remove a post on Instagram about the Left Party from her ministry's profile. An urgent application from the Left was successful before the Federal Constitutional Court, as it announced on Thursday in Karlsruhe.

As “Spiegel” reported, the Federal Minister of Economics published a video from the economic event “MyWay Conference” on the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Instagram channel, in which she criticized the left – without mentioning her name.

“The fact that a party is now preparing to do so, here in Berlin, is not ashamed to not only talk about expropriation, but to write it into its program, that openly practices anti-Semitism, that scares the Jews in this city, fights Jewish life, that cheerfully welcomes organized crime at election parties,” explained Reiche in the video, “is not only dangerous for the capital, it is dangerous for Germany as an investment location because we need capital - and must not be deterred.”

The Left Party sued and also filed an urgent application with the aim of having the video temporarily removed. The party was now successful.

The debate about anti-Semitism in the Left Party had already shaped the election campaign for the House of Representatives. It also offers explosives in the explorations by the Left, the Greens and the SPD. Before the exploratory talks, the three parties jointly published a joint agreement on dealing with anti-Semitism. Accordingly, party members face severe sanctions up to and including expulsion from the party if they violate the paper.

Also controversial is Neukölln left-wing politician Vanessa Emde, who, contrary to initial reports, is supposed to become part of the left-wing faction. Emde is considered one of the central figures of the anti-Israel party movement. During the election campaign she implicitly denied Israel's right to exist, and at the election party she posed next to the terrorist supporter Ibrahim Ibrahim. In the House of Representatives election, Emde won the direct mandate in Neukölln with more than 46 percent of the initial votes.