In the aftermath of the Berlin state elections, the German parties Die Linke, Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens initiated the exploratory negotiations to form a coalition government in Berlin announcing a preliminary agreement (Sondierungspapier).
This agreement represents a new repressive and anti-democratic escalation against Palestine solidarity in Germany, shocking the community both inside and outside of Die Linke. The political measures of this agreement intensify the already severe repression against the Palestine solidarity movement in Germany, and is in total opposition of what is the growing consensus globally against Israel’s livestreamed genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza and its ongoing, decades-old regime of apartheid and occupation.
After the widely covered electoral victory of Die Linke in the Berlin state election in September of 2026, a smear campaign began in the German press that attacked not only the party, but also the state and federal sections for Palestine solidarity (respectively, the LAG and BAG Palästina Solidarität), smearing them as antisemitic. Individual members of these sections, as well as activists and groups associated with them (such as Internationalistische Bündnis Berlin) were also targeted.
However, instead of reaffirming their commitment to end Germany’s shameful and massive complicity, Die Linke made unacceptable concessions. Under the excuse of fighting antisemitism and protecting Jewish life, the Sondierungspapier commits to strengthen the police and the domestic intelligence service (Verfassungsschutz) against political structures in solidarity with Palestine. The agreement follows the discredited, biased and anti-Palestinian IHRA working definition of antisemitism, deliberately confusing the fight against antisemitism with support for the apartheid state of Israel.
As a reminder, the anti-racist, non-violent BDS movement has long stated that conflating the State of Israel and the Jewish people is an antisemitic stance. There is nothing Jewish about Israel’s regime, and nothing anti-Jewish in opposing it. The right to call for BDS to achieve Palestinian rights in Germany needs to be defended.
On top of that, Die Linke targeted even its own members. Shortly after their electoral victory in Berlin, an expulsion procedure was filed by BAG Shalom (the pro-Israel working group of Die Linke) against Hannah Bruns, one of the main coordinators of the LAG Palästina Solidarität Berlin. The directive of the party has also openly spoken against Vanessa “Vedi” Emde, an elected representative from the Neukölln neighbourhood. In both cases, the accusation is that they criticise the supposed right to exist of the state of Israel. This follows a pattern of internal persecution in the party, as in 2024 the Palestinian activist Ramsis Kilani was expelled for similar reasons by a motion presented by the local Berlin MP Katina Schubert and by the current Europarlamentarian for Die Linke Martin Schirdewan.
The Sondierungspapier also accuses the BDS campaign as “Israel-related antisemitism” (Israelbezogenen Antisemitismus), rejecting the call for ‘undifferentiated’ boycott and sanctions against Israel as discriminatory in terms of nationality or origin, committing instead to maintain and increase the exchange with Israeli institutions and students. This accusation is wrong for at least two reasons:
- The BDS campaign follows ethical principles of non-discrimination. The BDS call targets the State of Israel, as a regime of settler-colonialism, apartheid, and military occupation, and its complicit institutions implicated in its war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against Palestinians, not only against illegal settlements, UN human rights experts, the UNHCR Commission of Inquiry authoritative international human rights organisations like Amnesty International and also former EU ambassadors have confirmed that the BDS demands are in line with international Law, and call on civilsociety, trade unions, and all forms of grassroots groups to exert pressure to end State Institutional and Corporate Complicity.
- The call for an academic and cultural boycott which is being promoted by the Academic Boycott Campaign in Germany (ABC DE) and other groups follows PACBI guidelines, which targets complicit Israel institutions, not individuals. The only exception for this is for representatives of said institutions, or for individuals that promote, advocate for or normalize genocide and apartheid.
Given that BDS has already been targeted by the German Parliament and Verfassungsschutz before, it is important to observe that the Sondierungspapier is more than just a political disagreement. This accusation actively endangers BDS members and all the activists that believe and in some way campaign for it.
For the voters of Die Linke in solidarity with Palestine, the paper is a slap in the face. Many voters placed their hopes in the party as the only one in which the fight for an end to the occupation and the genocide was possible at all. Many of its candidates supported the campaign for an end to military trade with Israel, organized by the Internationalistische Bündnis Berlin.
Palestine solidarity is inseparably connected to other political struggles. Since Israel is one of the key forces driving militarization and political repression, any party that positions itself against social cuts and militarization must also remain steadfast on the question of Palestine. In that sense, the repression against our solidarity structures goes hand in hand with the decision of the Berlin Senate of December 2025 to make Berlin a “Def-Tech” center, which would bring the Israeli arms company IAI into its main science park with Humboldt University. The Sondierungspapier that Die Linke agreed to, secures this and similar military projects.
We stand in solidarity with the comrades that are struggling against the complicity of the German state, institutions and corporations, and we call for the German parties to stop criminalising a legitimate non-violent, anti-racist movement against genocide and apartheid in Palestine. Instead, parties such a Die Linke should abide by international Law and adopt BDS to end Germany’s complicity with Israel’s genocide, apartheid and illegal occupation against Palestinians, starting by demanding and pushing for a full military embargo against Israel and the end of its participation in Horizon Europe and the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
Signed and supported by
- Internationalistisches Bündnis Berlin
- Academic Boycott Campaign Germany (ABC DE)
- BDS Berlin
- BDS Freie Universität Berlin
- Eye4Palestine
- International Socialist League
- Gruppe Arbeiter:innenmacht
- Klasse gegen Klasse
- Kommunistische Organisation
- Gaza Komittee