Jan van Aken rejects accusations of anti-Semitism against the left

The left-wing member of the Bundestag and former federal chairman Jan van Aken has sharply rejected the allegations of anti-Semitism against his party. “It’s completely clear why we’ve been firing on all cylinders for ten days now,” he said on the ARD program “Maischberger”. “The CDU, the real estate lobby, the extremely rich, they want to prevent the Left from ruling,” explained the Left politician with a view to Berlin, where the Left became the strongest party in the House of Representatives election.

“We are all completely clear: anti-Semitism will not be tolerated in this party,” said van Aken. But he admitted that there were “a few people” on the left who said things that he thought were completely wrong. “I think they have no place in this party either,” said the left-wing politician. “But they have nothing to say in this party, they are not a majority, they have no say, they will have nothing to do with this government at all.”

Report on contacts in the clan milieu should come soon

Van Aken also expressly defended the Neukölln Left Party member of the Bundestag Ferat Koçak. Koçak had come under pressure, among other things, because he had been in chat contact with a son of the extended Remmo family, which is associated with the clan milieu, and asked him for help in distributing a video in which the left-wing MP critically discussed the term clan crime. Several members of this family were convicted of numerous crimes and acts of violence.

“He said he made a mistake, and to be honest I think that’s a good thing,” emphasized van Aken. Koçak also promised complete transparency and disclosed everything to the party leaders and the parliamentary group. “I think we will get a very comprehensive report on what was there later this week,” said van Aken.

“Have you ever seen a politician from the CDU who says, I have made a mistake, I am disclosing everything, who invites people and lets them look at all the documents?” asked van Aken.

In the election for the Berlin House of Representatives on September 20th, the Left was far ahead with 25.7 percent. They are followed by the CDU (18.8 percent), AfD (16.3 percent), the Greens (14.3 percent) and the SPD (12.1 percent). The Left now wants to forge a coalition with the Greens and the SPD and could nominate a governing mayor in Berlin for the first time with their top candidate, co-parliamentary group leader Elif Eralp.