Volker Beck: 'Completely incomprehensible' that Greens and SPD ally with Berlin Left
German-Israeli Society president Beck criticises the Greens and SPD for coalition talks with Berlin's Left Party. He calls lawmaker Emde's statements "unspeakable".
Archive image · Photo: Stephan Röhl / Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped and resized)
Volker Beck, president of the German-Israeli Society, has sharply criticised the Greens and the SPD over their planned alliance with the Left Party in Berlin. "It is completely incomprehensible that the Greens and the SPD are lending themselves to a coalition with this Berlin Left Party," he told the Augsburger Allgemeine, as reported by Tagesspiegel. Beck accuses the Left of failing to seriously confront hatred of Jews and anti-Zionism, and called the statements of lawmaker Vanessa Emde "unspeakable".
Emde has faced criticism over remarks on the Middle East conflict and for publicly distancing herself from a joint declaration against antisemitism. The Left Party's parliamentary group leadership postponed a decision on her because she had called in sick; deliberations are to continue next week. The Greens and the SPD in Berlin have already approved coalition talks, while the Left Party will make its final decision at a party congress on 31 October.