Berlin Left Distances Itself from Rally Featuring "Yalla Yalla Intifada" Call in Neukölln

Organizer Elif Eralp had promoted a "Festival of Palestinian Liberation" beforehand and also appeared on stage herself. The Palestinian rapper Dahabflex performed musically. In chants and on banners, the slogan "Khaybar, Khaybar, ya Yahud" was also called out, according to reporters, which historically targets Jews and is understood as a call for violence in the Islamist scene.

Reactions from the Federal Party and the Public Prosecutor's Office

The federal party Die Linke reacted with sharp distancing on the day of the event. Federal Executive Director Martin Rosemann stated, according to reports, that the Left stands "unmissverständlich gegen jede Form von Antisemitismus, Rassismus und Volksverhetzung." The event had not been coordinated with the party. The parliamentary group leadership of the Left in the Bundestag also expressed itself in a similar vein.

The Berlin Public Prosecutor's Office is reviewing, according to its own statements, whether there is initial suspicion of incitement of the people. Police forces were on site with several hundred officers, according to the authority, to secure the assembly and document possible criminal offenses. To date, no significant number of arrests has been reported, according to police.

The Central Council of Jews in Germany sharply criticized the events. President Josef Schuster spoke of a "new quality of antisemitic agitation" in the Berlin election campaign and called for decisive action by the judiciary. The Berlin Senate and several members of the Bundestag also expressed concern about the entanglement of election campaigning, militant slogans, and antisemitism.

Appearances by Feldman and Lilienthal

Among the speakers were also figures from civil society, according to reports. Named are the writer Deborah Feldman, who gained international fame in 2012 with the novel "Unorthodox," as well as Matthias Lilienthal, artistic director of the Berliner Volksbühne. Feldman, who herself comes from an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn and later left the strictly religious community, has repeatedly spoken out against antisemitism in the past. Lilienthal has been artistic director of the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz since 2017. Their joint appearance at an event with anti-Israeli and in part openly antisemitic slogans prompted criticism on social media and in the cultural pages.

At the federal political level, the question was raised of how the local branch of the Left in Neukölln came into conflict with the federal party. The Neukölln Left belongs to the left wing of the Berlin Left and has been known for years for controversial positions on Israeli policy. Federal politicians called for an organizational review and clear consequences for individual officeholders.

Consequences for the Berlin Election Campaign

Throughout the city, the event sparked discussions over the weekend about the limits of political expression, the responsibility of organizers, and the question of when criticism of Israeli government policy tips over into antisemitism. Citizens' initiatives from the Schillerkiez announced a counter-demonstration in the coming days, and the police president announced an increased presence in Neukölln. The public prosecutor's office also made clear that the review was ongoing and no concrete suspect has yet been named.

The events also cast a spotlight on the beginning of the Berlin election campaign: almost two years before the next House of Representatives election in September 2027, various parties are attempting to mobilize voters with tough positioning on one side or the other. Observers assess the incidents as evidence of how narrow the line between pro-Palestinian activism and open agitation against Jewish women and men has become.