Daniel Peters, a leading candidate for the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, has publicly declared that the Left Party should not participate in governments, citing their recent and controversial position on the Middle East conflict. Peters criticized the Left for its party congress decision to label the Israeli army’s actions in Gaza as genocide.
According to Peters, focusing on the narrative that Israel is a genocidal state only fuels the conflict. He stated that unless the issue relates to the Third Reich, the Left appears to view Jewish people primarily as perpetrators. Given the party’s declaration which challenges Israel’s right to exist, Peters finds the Left’s commitment to Israel’s survival rights to be half-hearted and untrustworthy. He asserted that the Left suffers from a serious issue with antisemitism. He concluded that any party that continuously vilifies the Jewish state while simultaneously glorifying terrorism against Israel should not be allowed to hold governmental authority, whether at the federal or state level.
In addition to his comments on the Middle East, Peters, who also serves as the CDU’s party and faction boss in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, severely criticized the Left’s new co-leader, Luigi Pantisano. Peters warned that equating the CDU with fascists, and trivializing the victims of fascism, demonstrates a disturbing collective amnesia and poisons the political climate. He argued that the Left is continually radicalizing and moving increasingly far from the democratic center, taking on the mindset of the far-right, which treats political rivals as enemies.
Peters dismissed individual moderating statements from the Left as mere superficial measures. He summarized his view by asserting that “no government can be formed with the Left.” He expressed hope that the Social Democrats (SPD) and Green Party would also cease to ignore this political drift. Peters referenced a previous statement by Pantisano, who had claimed there was “ultimately no difference between the CDU, which performs fascist policies, the AfD or the fascists themselves,” though Pantisano had subsequently apologized for that remark on Monday.
