Berlin, September 1st, 2026 (The Berlin Spectator) – Berlin is less than three weeks away from its state elections. In most other federal states in the area of former East Germany, the extremist right-wing AfD poses the biggest danger. In Berlin, they are a lot stronger than they should be, but also a lot weaker. Even if they come in first on September 20th, they will not govern. It’s the math and the fact that nobody wants to cooperate with them.
Over here in the city state of Berlin, “Die Linke” (“The Left”) is the most dangerous political force with a strong antisemitic tendency. The extremists in the party are not even hiding their support for terrorism. They love it as long as it targets Jews. And those who pretend they have other priorities act surprised when yet another antisemitism scandal brakes.
This is what happened this past weekend. On Friday, “Die Linke” in Berlin’s Neukölln district staged a celebration. Their festivities included a performance by a rapper known as Dahabflex. He sang “Yallah Yallah intifada, West Bank, Palestine, Gaza” and slogans like “Death to the IDF”. Members of “Die Linke”, including at least one more prominent one, reportedly danced to the rap and nobody opposed the outrageous lyrics.
Performative “Outrage”
Only when the scandal broke, the main candidate for “Die Linke”, Elif Eralp, who wants to become Governing Mayor of Berlin in September, reacted. She condemned the rapper’s appearance at the party event. “Calls for violence and for killing people are absolutely unacceptable”, she said. “I am appalled. Those responsible should have intervened immediately.”
Not everyone believes she was surprised. Her former party colleague Klaus Lederer, who used to be Berlin’s Culture Senator and left the party because of an earlier antisemitism scandal in 2024, stated: “None of this is new. All of it has been said often enough”, he wrote on BlueSky. “Every bit of ostentatious surprise and ‘outrage’ whenever it becomes public again is performative.”
As it turns out, “Die Linke” in Neukölln was warned. A year ago, Martina Renner, a former vice chairlady of “Die Linke”, told her colleagues in Neukölln about the antisemitic rapper who was supposed to perform at a party they co-promoted.
Tip of the Iceberg
The thing is: This latest antisemitism scandal is only the tip of the iceberg, especially in Neukölln.
Meet Ahmed Abed, a candidate for district mayor for “Die Linke” in Neukölln. He got 82 percent of the votes at their district assembly in February. Back then, Martin Hikel, a Social Democrat (SPD) who is district mayor right now, commented. He said making Abed the candidate was “a slap in the face to everyone who stands up for peaceful coexistence and against Islamism”. Other democratic parties accused Abed of Jew hatred as well.
Before, Abed had called the Mayor of Bat Yam, Neukölln’s Israeli partner city, a “murderer” when he came for a visit last October. “You are not welcome here”, he reportedly shouted at Tzvika Brot.
Not an Accident
“Die Linke” in Neukölln won the district sky-high at the latest federal elections in February of last year. The man they sent to the Bundestag is Ferat Koçak, a politician who accuses Israel of being responsible for the situation in the Middle East, where Palestinian terror groups financed by the Tehran regime committed terrible massacres on October 7th, 2023, murdering 1,200 people and raping many. In addition, they took 251 people hostage. Many other “Die Linke” party members spread the usual conspiracy myths about Israel as well, including the genocide and apartheid lies.
There is more: In Neukölln, “Die Linke” organized its “Summer Fest” in August of 2025. Who did they invite? NGOs that support Hamas.
Obviously, the latest scandal is not an accident. Israel haters among their candidates were not chosen in spite of their pro-terror stance, but because of it.
AfD or “Die Linke”?
An election victory for “Die Linke” and the formation of a coalition with the Greens and the SPD, one of the two more likely outcomes, would make Elif Eralp Governing Mayor. She would have to fake being surprised many times, when her people take Jew hatred and terror support in Berlin a step further.
Coincidentally, both “Die Linke” and the Greens want to strap the police of responsibilities and rights they have according to the new police law the Berlin House of Representatives passed in December. The two parties challenged the law in court. Since this just happened, there is no verdict yet.
“Die Linke” poses a danger to Berlin’s security as a whole, and to the one minority some of their candidates and members hate so much. Would I rather live in a state governed by “Die Linke” or by the AfD, if I had to? Honestly, I don’t know. Neither do I want to be governed by extremists on the right, nor on the left.
