Berlin Linke candidate Elif Eralp privately voices fear of Hamas sympathisers

What the notes show

Elif Eralp, 45, the Linke's lead candidate for mayor of Berlin, did not intend to make her private remarks public. Der Spiegel interviewed her on Monday, 26 October, and its reporters sent the transcript to her spokesperson for authorisation, a routine step in German journalism. The file came back on Wednesday, 28 October, one day later than agreed, still containing comments written by Eralp, her spokesperson and Kerstin Wolter, the party's Berlin state chair. The magazine judged the notes to be of public interest and published them.

In one note Eralp says that she and her husband are afraid of 'these people', a reference that Spiegel links to Palestinian extremist circles, some of which are suspected of contacts with Hamas. Explaining why she would not name anyone, she wrote the following.

“I cannot put myself and my family in danger for Spiegel.”

Ibrahim Ibrahim and the Neukölln party

Her concern centres on Ibrahim Ibrahim, an activist known for radical positions against Israel. He appeared at a Linke election party in Neukölln after the regional vote on 20 September, photographed alongside party figures including federal deputy Ferat Koçak. The question about him was cut from the authorised version, but Focus reports that the tone of her answer was still yes. Spiegel reports that Ibrahim called Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader killed in Gaza in October 2024, a 'martyr hero'. Ibrahim rejects accusations that he supports terrorism. Die Welt describes him as a longtime supporter of the PFLP, while La Stampa reports that the Palestinian committee in which he is a leading figure is classed as extremist by German intelligence.

Security warnings and the spokesperson's statement

Eralp's spokesperson told Spiegel that the candidate has faced daily insults, threats and hostility for months. He pointed to security authorities who advise against tying political problems to individuals in public statements, particularly when media reports link those people to organised crime or terrorist groups. Her office asked the magazine to take Eralp's personal security interests into account. Her note also recalls advice from Berlin's state criminal police office (Landeskriminalamt) never to name concrete names, advice she says applied to organised crime at the time. In her words, the matter now concerns people with contacts to Hamas.

Political fallout

Eralp wants to become mayor of Berlin in a coalition with the Greens and the SPD. La Stampa reports that her remarks now pose a political problem for the German left, which is preparing to govern the capital. According to Focus, she distanced herself from individual party colleagues after the vote and admitted mistakes, but she did not see a widespread problem. In the interview she conceded that she had not grasped the scale of the antisemitism problem and had not expected boundary violations during the campaign. In the file she asked her colleagues what to do next.

“What do we do now? Can we cancel the entire interview?”

In a further comment she wrote that she should never have agreed to the interview at all.