The Central Council of Jews has condemned a newly adopted resolution by the Lower Saxony Left party that denounces “the actually existing Zionism”. President Josef Schuster, speaking to the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”, said the resolution essentially gives a home to the anti‑Semitism the party has long denied in its public statements.
Schuster argued that the resolution’s “demonstrative rejection of the Jewish state” strikes at the self‑determination rights of the Jewish people. “The left‑wing ‘antizionism’ is a poorly veiled form of anti‑Semitism” he noted. He further claimed that the policy pushes out those within the party who still have a moral compass. This, he suggested, explains the resignation of Brandenburg’s antisemitism commissioner, Andreas Büttner, who has long been a steadfast defender of Jewish life.
The president warned that violent acts against Jewish institutions are likely to increase under the guise of “antizionism”. He said the Left party’s proposal provides a rhetorical justification for such violence. “If they continue down this path, the Left aligns itself with those who condone, or even support, that violence” Schuster added.
Last weekend, the Lower Saxony state federation of the Left passed a resolution titled “The Left in Lower Saxony Rejects the Currently Realising Zionism”. In it, the party declared, among other points, that Israel is an apartheid state and that it commits genocide in the Gaza Strip.