The Central Council of Jews has condemned a resolution adopted last week by the Lower Saxony branch of the Left Party. The resolution rejects “the today real‑existing Zionism” and calls Israel an apartheid state that is committing genocide in Gaza. According to President Josef Schuster, who spoke to the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”, the Left Party is providing a new home for the anti‑Semitism it has previously denied. He said the party’s demonstrative rejection of the Jewish state is “an attack on the right of the Jewish people to self‑determination” and that left‑wing “antizionism” is nothing more than hidden antisemitism. Schuster criticized the resolution for driving away the voices within the party that still possess a moral compass. He cited the recent resignation of Brandenburg’s antisemitism ombudsman Andreas Büttner, whom he described as a “steadfast defender of Jewish life”.
Schuster warned that violence against Jewish institutions could rise under the cover of antizionism. He argued that the party’s petition gives rhetorical justification for such violence and that if the Left continues on this path, it would stand beside those who praise or even support such attacks.
