Debates over antisemitism and the evaluation of Israel’s actions have repeatedly made headlines within the German Left Party. Now, Brandenburg’s commissioner for combating antisemitism is taking a stand.
Brandenburg’s Antisemitism Commissioner Andreas Büttner has resigned from the Left Party, citing disagreements over the party’s stance on Israel and a lack of support for his function. The move underscores growing tensions within the party regarding antisemitism and its approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“I hesitated for a long time because I felt connected to this party for many years,” Büttner said in a statement released Sunday evening. “But I have reached a point where I must realize that I can no longer remain a member of this party without betraying my own convictions.”
Büttner noted that he received support from the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and Green Party during his 2024 election as Antisemitism Commissioner. “It is all the more shocking for me what I have been experiencing within my own party for years,” he stated.
The breaking point for Büttner came with a recent decision by the Left Party’s regional conference in Lower Saxony to reject Zionism and label Israel as a “genocidal state” and an “apartheid state.” “These resolutions are unacceptable to me,” Büttner explained.
“Politically absurd”
Büttner also reported experiencing attacks from party members, particularly on social media, with what he described as a largely silent response from the party leadership. “Instead of support, I experienced relativization,” he wrote. “Even my own state association has been more silent than publicly positioning itself against the attacks against me.”
The situation escalated with a pending party exclusion proceeding against Büttner. He stated that the Federal Arbitration Commission informed him that the motion for his expulsion was not unfounded. “The Antisemitism Commissioner of a federal state is facing exclusion from his own party because he clearly names antisemitism,” Büttner said. “That is politically absurd.”
Büttner also challenged the assertion that antisemitism is not a problem within the Left Party. He stated that he could no longer reconcile continued membership with his conscience, nor with his responsibility as commissioner for combating antisemitism in the state of Brandenburg.
Büttner, a former Free Democratic Party (FDP) politician and member of the state parliament, joined the Left Party in 2015. He served as State Secretary in the Brandenburg Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Health, Women and Family from 2018 to 2019, and was a member of the Brandenburg state parliament for the Left Party from 2019 to 2024.
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