Die Linke party congress adopts resolution labeling Israel's Gaza campaign as genocide

Congress opens with attacks on government and far-right

At the start of its federal congress in Potsdam on Friday, party co-chair Ines Schwerdtner accused the ruling black-red coalition under Chancellor Friedrich Merz of planning the "biggest social robbery since Agenda 2010" and announced massive resistance. She warned that the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is "at the threshold of power" in eastern states, pledging: "We will do everything to keep the AfD away from the levers of power." Bundestag faction leader Heidi Reichinnek attacked the government's proposed move to a weekly maximum working time, declaring that the eight-hour day was a historic achievement.

“The only ones who can make us fail are ourselves.”

Schwerdtner also used her speech to signal an imminent shift on the Middle East, telling delegates she now describes the situation in Gaza as "genocide".

The genocide resolution: a hard-fought compromise

After hours of backroom negotiations, outgoing co-chair Jan van Aken presented a compromise text at 21:40 that the party executive had hammered out with various internal currents. For the first time, Die Linke officially adopted the language of genocide, stating:

“International organisations, human rights groups and many international lawyers speak of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. We join this assessment.”

The resolution passed with a large majority at 21:58. It explicitly acknowledges Israel's right to exist as a refuge for Jews, calls for the protection of Jewish life in Germany, condemns the worldwide terror campaign against Jewish and Israeli institutions, and simultaneously affirms the right to Palestinian statehood and equal rights for all people in Palestine. The text calls for the disarmament of Hamas and Hezbollah and still endorses a two-state solution while noting that option is increasingly distant.

Internal fractures and antisemitism allegations

The debate revealed sharp divisions. A counter-motion from the party’s Palestine solidarity working group, which defended the BDS movement and described Israel as an apartheid regime, won roughly one-third of delegate votes. Several lawmakers used openly hostile language: Bundestag member Cansın Köktürk called Israel an "apartheid state," and MEP Özlem Alev Demirel spoke of Germany's "complicity in this genocide." Tensions were heightened by a pre-congress report from Bavarian broadcaster BR that uncovered antisemitic posts in internal chats of the party’s youth wing Linksjugend ['solid], including references to "Israeli concentration camps" and a burning Israeli flag with the caption "Israel, perish!" Party leaders condemned the incidents; faction chief Reichinnek said those who violate shared values "must face consequences."

Guest speakers and the debate over Israel's right to exist

Two Israeli speakers drew enthusiastic applause. Vered Berman, a descendant of Holocaust survivors, recounted her mother's death in a Palestinian attack while also acknowledging Palestinian victims of Israeli violence, insisting that both must not be played off against each other.

“The whole system of occupation must be dismantled.”

Communist Knesset member Aida Touma-Soliman accused the Israeli government of apartheid and genocide and urged the German left to maintain its criticism. Schwerdtner stressed that no one in Germany should fear going to a synagogue or wearing a kippa and vowed:

“We protect Jewish life in this country and everywhere.”

Looking ahead: leadership elections and state campaigns

The congress, which runs until Sunday, will also elect a new co-chair to replace van Aken, who is stepping down for health reasons. Bundestag member Luigi Pantisano is the candidate to serve alongside Schwerdtner, who faces re-election. Pantisano has indicated openness to state-level coalitions with the CDU to block the AfD, though the party has not yet adopted a formal position. Meanwhile, the lead motion rails against the "Zeitenwende" and attacks on the welfare state, setting the tone for upcoming state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin, where Schwerdtner declared: "We will not leave the east to the Nazis."