Where does legitimate criticism of Israel’s policies end and antisemitism begin? That question has resurfaced after a regional branch of Germany’s Left Party adopted a resolution addressing Israel’s conduct in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
“The Left Party in Lower Saxony rejects the Zionism that actually exists today” is the heading of the contested text. Historian Stefanie Schüler‑Springorum, director of the Center for Research on Antisemitism at the Technical University of Berlin and a co‑author of the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism (JDA), says the wording blurs the line between criticism of policy and antisemitism.
The JDA, published in 2021, was drafted as a response to what its authors saw as the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) 2016 definition, which they argue conflates legitimate criticism of Israel with antisemitic speech. For Schüler‑Springorum, the Lower Saxony resolution is “unclear” and therefore problematic: its title risks implying a denial of Israel’s right to exist.
She questions why the term Zionism is used when the debate concerns state policy, noting Zionism’s many historical facets and that attacking “Zionism that actually exists” can be read as targeting people outside Israel who support the state. For that reason, she accuses the Lower Saxony branch of operating in a gray area. She explicitly excludes the federal party leadership, including co‑chairs Ines Schwerdtner and Jan van Aken, from her criticism.
The party’s national leaders have distanced themselves from the Lower Saxony resolution. “There can be no compromises on motions that call the very foundations of our party into question,” they said in a joint declaration—a response Schüler‑Springorum called credible given their previous public statements on the issue.
The Lower Saxony state association told DW it is aware that “Zionism” is interpreted differently by different people and that policies and ideologies must be open to criticism. It acknowledged that certain formulations can be misleading and regretted if the resolution gave the impression of bias. The branch said it takes criticism—especially from Jewish organizations—seriously and intends to engage in dialogue.
Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, described the resolution as an “attack on the Jewish people’s right to self‑determination.”
In reaction to the Lower Saxony text, Brandenburg’s commissioner for antisemitism, Andreas Büttner, resigned from the Left Party. Büttner told DW he regards anti‑Zionism as fundamentally antisemitic because it questions Israel’s right to exist; he said rejecting “Zionism that actually exists” effectively rejects the State of Israel. He added that, after years of trying to address the debate within the party and experiencing personal animosities, he felt the leadership’s recent signals of awareness came too late.
The controversy arrives as the Left rides an electoral upswing after its unexpectedly strong showing in the 2025 federal election, when it reached nearly 9%. The party improved its vote in recent state elections, gaining 4.4% in both Rhineland‑Palatinate and Baden‑Württemberg, though it still fell short of entering those state parliaments.
Political scientist Antonios Souris of the Free University of Berlin warns the upswing may be short‑lived. He says the party is split on several issues, some with irreconcilable positions, and the Israel–Palestine conflict is clearly one. Souris sees potential for division in cultural debates and on university campuses, which could complicate the Left’s prospects for entering state governments. In Berlin, where elections are due in September, the Left polls at about 15%, roughly level with the Social Democrats and the Greens; the CDU leads at 22%.
The party had hoped to form a three‑party coalition in Berlin after the vote, possibly even leading it, but observers say the antisemitism debate could undermine those plans. Souris says the question remains whether the national leadership’s distancing can actually resolve conflicts at the grassroots.
This article was originally written in German.
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