Berlin Left decides on Emde as Jewish community head opposes expulsion
The Left Party's Berlin caucus meets today over lawmaker Vanessa Emde. In a surprise move, the head of Berlin's Jewish community has come out against expelling her.
Symbolic image · Photo: Abghs / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
The Left Party caucus in Berlin's state parliament is due to decide on Tuesday how to deal with Neukölln lawmaker Vanessa Emde: the leadership meets first, then the full caucus, and expulsion is possible, dpa reported. Emde has argued that states have no right to exist and said she retracts "not a single one of these statements". She did not attend a first meeting on Oct. 20, having called in sick.
Gideon Joffe, chairman of the Jewish Community of Berlin, argues in an internal paper that Emde should not be expelled, Tagesspiegel reported. He called the debate "a clever diversion": "Emde is being sacrificed so that the decisive question need not be discussed", referring, in his view, to a June Left Party federal congress resolution that he says legitimizes the genocide accusation against Israel. The Left Party rejects such criticism.
The Greens and SPD had demanded her expulsion. The newly elected state parliament holds its first session on Thursday, and on Saturday a Left Party congress decides whether to open coalition talks with the Greens and SPD, which have already agreed.