Die Linke Won Berlin. Then Came the Antisemitism Smears.
The charge that Die Linke is an antisemitic party is false. The German left party, which scored a decisive victory in Sunday's Berlin election, does not have an antisemitism problem, and it does not pose a threat to Jewish life in Berlin or Germany. Some Jewish Berliners may see the party as a danger. That perception, however, has been fed by a media narrative with little basis in fact.
A candid look at Die Linke—its leaders, its campaign methods, and its often intense engagement with Germany's debate over antisemitism—makes the charge hard to sustain. The party treats the protection of Jewish life as part of a wider anti-racist project. In that sense, it differs from mainstream German approaches that too often treat Jewish safety and the freedoms of other communities as a zero-sum contest.
Die Linke has a large membership that is passionate about Palestinian solidarity and sharply critical of Israeli war crimes. At times, activists express those views in ways unbecoming a democratic left-wing party, using statements or symbols that are seen as supporting armed resistance. That is a real problem, and it conflicts with the party's democratically adopted positions on Israel and Palestine. A party must maintain a political line at its events and among its members. Even so, those infractions do not amount to an antisemitic culture inside Die Linke.
Are there antisemites in Die Linke's midst? Certainly. Antisemitism exists across all segments of German society—native and migrant, young and old, Christian, Muslim, atheist, and even Jewish. There are also cases in which anti-Israel positions slide into antisemitism. But this is neither a structural nor an ideological problem for Die Linke. Polling suggests antisemitic beliefs are actually more prevalent among voters of other parties. Left-wing politics, done right, fights all forms of discrimination and racism, including antisemitism.
Why, then, did rivals on both the left and the right attack Die Linke Berlin as antisemitic during the campaign? Because it was winning. Smearing an entire organization over the actions of a low-level member is one of the oldest tricks in politics. It is a playbook that has been used against socialist movements for generations, and the Israeli right has used a version of it to delegitimize Israel's radical left and Palestinian citizens of Israel.
The attacks failed. Berlin voters did not accept the notion that mayoral candidate Elif Eralp's campaign was a smokescreen for Hamas. She won decisively on an agenda built around affordability and political hope. Her campaign echoed Zohran Mamdani's in New York City, where he was repeatedly pressed on Israel and Palestine despite focusing on bread-and-butter issues. In both races, the media echo chamber's insistence on centering foreign policy and antisemitism did not work. Voters saw through the ploy. Casting Eralp as a menace to Jews was especially absurd given her moderate positions on Israel-Palestine and her history of involvement in anti-antisemitism campaigns.
But these attacks were never designed to sway public opinion. They were staged for this exact moment, after Die Linke had already won. The real aim was to make other progressive parties—the Social Democrats and the Greens—hesitate to govern with a party accused of antisemitism by mainstream German media and conservative Jewish institutions. The campaign targets Berlin's political class, not its voters, to keep the left out of power. That serves the real estate lobby, which objects to Die Linke's signature policy of socializing the city's apartment blocks.
The stakes extend beyond Berlin. If a party can be frozen out of coalition talks by an unproven smear, the precedent affects every future government. Berlin's housing crisis, meanwhile, has made rent and public ownership central issues, raising the cost of excluding a party that won on them.
Die Linke's democratic mandate should be strong enough to make its role in government hard to deny. Still, the attacks are likely to continue through coalition negotiations and into any future term in office. In those moments, avoiding missteps will be vital.
Once in power, Die Linke must turn its values into action. Berlin should remain a city that welcomes all communities and celebrates its diversity, including its disagreements. That requires genuine outreach to the Jewish community, which has been persuaded by national forces that it is at risk. However unfounded those concerns may be, Die Linke has a responsibility to address them seriously, challenge false narratives where necessary, and help make Berlin a city for all.