The Neukölln integration officer Güner Balci has accused the former Left leader Janine Wissler of not taking the problems in her own party seriously. “Your party is the ideal breeding ground for this hatred of Jews,” Balci said to Wissler in the “Top Discussion” of “Spiegel”.
At the same time, she spoke out against Elif Eralp becoming the governing mayor of Berlin. “I would like to see a real commitment against anti-Semitism and for Jewish life in Berlin and in Germany,” said Balci. “And as long as I don’t see that – and I don’t see that – I would like Elif Eralp not to become mayor.”
For almost 50 minutes, Balci and Wissler discussed allegations of anti-Semitism against the left and their treatment of radical pro-Palestinian activists - and repeatedly clashed violently.
Balci accused parts of the left of maintaining ties to a radically pro-Palestinian milieu and of not sufficiently distancing themselves from people close to Hamas structures. Among other things, she referred to the Palestinian activist Ibrahim Ibrahim, who appeared at the Left Party's election party in Neukölln. "All the things that Jewish people have given in recent years as reasons why they don't feel safe in this city can very often be traced back to things that are also happening in your party and are officially party policy. If you are not aware of this, you are part of the problem yourself," said WELT columnist Balci.
Wissler rejected the allegations. The ex-Left leader repeatedly tried to steer the debate away from anti-Semitism and instead talk about the issue that the Left claimed in the election campaign for the House of Representatives: rents. But the moderator did not accept this change of topic. Wissler also didn't get through with his attempt to differentiate the events in the Neukölln Left from the party as a whole.
“We of course condemned October 7th in all forms,” said Wissler, referring to the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. She objected to declaring the left a “hotbed of anti-Semitism in Germany”. That is “downright absurd”. Many party members have been active in anti-fascist initiatives and memorial work for years. Anti-Semitism is a “problem for society as a whole” from which no party or political direction is immune. Wissler recommended “the greatest possible distance” from Ibrahim Ibrahim. Her impression is that he represents “very problematic positions” and has “very problematic connections.”
“They don’t care because they have no idea about it.”
When Wissler finally described the debate about the accusations of anti-Semitism against the left as “hysterical,” Balci had to laugh out loud. “I find it extremely astonishing that you would sit here and claim that the left doesn’t have an anti-Semitism problem,” countered Balci, ignoring Wissler’s defense. Instead, she confronted the ex-left leader with a number of examples of connections to radical pro-Palestinian circles of left-wing MPs.
She also referred to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which was classified as a terrorist organization by the EU and was involved in the terrorist attack on October 7, 2023. “If you deal with it the way you do here now, you’re actually just showing me that you don’t really care that Jews no longer feel safe in Germany,” said Balci.
Wissler replied: “I have no Hamas supporters in the party” – whereupon Balci leaned back, crossed his arms and commented on the statement with the words: “You don’t care because you have no idea about it.” And later: “Just put a Star of David around your neck and walk around Neukölln with it for a while, and then you’ll know what I’m talking about.”
Finally, it was also about the Neukölln Left MP Vanessa Emde, who is the focus of the anti-Semitism debate because of her statements and posts on social media. Wissler criticized the fact that the MP did not take part in the party conference, but instead demonstrated in front of the hall against her own party and its top candidate. “But I think it’s really wrong to insinuate hatred of Jews, and I would like to protect them against that.” Meanwhile, the Berlin Left intends to exclude the controversial MP Emde from the parliamentary group in the House of Representatives.
Balci is also faced with an “extremely reactionary understanding of Islam” that claims to have a comprehensive influence on people’s everyday lives. “This is also a blind spot in the party and doesn’t interest you at all.”
Balci explicitly made her rejection of Eralp dependent on whether the left-wing top candidate took action against the structures in her own party that she criticized. She had to “seriously fight” the people she was afraid of, said Balci. “And that starts within your own party if you clean it up.” The fact that Vanessa Emde might be excluded from the left-wing faction is not enough. That would “probably be the pawn sacrifice,” said Balci. In her view, the real problem goes “much deeper into this party structure.” As long as she doesn't see any consequences there, she doesn't want Eralp to become mayor.
Wissler, on the other hand, referred to the threat posed by right-wing extremism. “The danger in this country comes primarily from the far right, from right-wing terrorism,” she said. Among other things, she recalled the NSU murder of Halit Yozgat, the racist attack in Hanau and the murder of Kassel district president Walter Lübcke.
