Berlin Left mayoral candidate Eralp faces backlash over leaked Hamas remarks

Berlin mayoral candidate Elif Eralp of the Left Party is under pressure from political opponents after private remarks about individuals she described as having "connections to Hamas" were accidentally included in an annotated interview transcript returned to Der Spiegel.

The incident arose from the standard German journalistic practice of returning annotated transcripts. Der Spiegel had asked Eralp about antisemitism within the Left Party and whether she was referring to Ibrahim Ibrahim, a pro-Palestinian agitator who attended the party's election-night celebration on 20 September. Eralp confirmed she was, then sought to have the exchange removed.

In comments apparently directed at her assistants, included in the transcript by mistake, Eralp referenced earlier advice from Berlin's State Criminal Police Office, the LKA, about naming individuals tied to organized crime. The LKA, she noted, had recommended "never naming specific individuals" when the concern was organized crime, but now the issue involved people with connections to Hamas. She added that she could not "put myself and my family in danger for SPIEGEL."

A separate private note referred to an unidentified man, saying her husband and she were afraid of him. Der Spiegel did not identify the man or explain his connection to Eralp.

CDU mayoral candidate Stefan Evers, who placed second in the September vote, said the remarks exposed a contradiction between Eralp's private fears and her party's call for reducing police numbers. Evers told POLITICO that if Eralp, as a future governor of Berlin, was so afraid for herself and her family that she hesitated to publicly name terrorist sympathizers, while parts of her own party were working with those circles, then "reasonable voices within the Greens and [Social Democrats] must finally pull the emergency brake."

Ibrahim Ibrahim, through his lawyers, denied party membership and said he "categorically" rejected accusations of supporting terrorism. The Left Party denies allegations of antisemitism.