Berlin’s far-left mayoral candidate admits fear of supporters who back Hamas

Elif Eralp accidentally acknowledges to Der Spiegel that she and her husband are 'afraid of these people,' referring to Die Linke supporters with ties to terror groups Hamas, PFLP

By ToI Staff Today, 9:02 pm
Berlin’s Die Linke leader Elif Eralp visits an installation displaying portraits of victims of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, marking the third anniversary of the attack, at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, October 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Berlin’s leading far-left mayoral candidate, Elif Eralp, inadvertently admitted during a recent interview with German newspaper Der Spiegel that she was afraid of some of her supporters due to their ties to the Hamas terror group.

Eralp, a politician from the far-left Die Linke party, accidentally made her fears public when she sent Der Spiegel an authorized transcript of an interview conducted earlier this week without first removing comments and annotations she and her spokesperson had added.

Next to a question about antisemitism among pro-Palestinian German supporters of her party, in which one such supporter, Ibrahim Ibrahim, was mentioned by name, the Die Linke politician wrote, “Neither my husband nor I want to mention specific names; he is afraid of these people, and so am I.”

The question Eralp took issue with had mentioned “the terrorist sympathizer Ibrahim Ibrahim,” and noted that he had referred to former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who orchestrated the October 7, 2023, attack, as a “martyr hero.”

Ibrahim, according to German media, is a leading figure of Germany’s United Palestinian National Committee (VPNK), a group formed after October 7 for supporters of Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

He attended the Die Linke election party following Berlin’s state election in September, prompting Der Spiegel’s question to Eralp about his support.

According to Der Spiegel, Eralp’s spokesperson noted in the annotations that they couldn’t just delete the journalist’s question, as rules dictate that the interviewee can change only their answers and not the questions when authorizing final transcripts.

“What do I do now?” Eralp wrote in response. “I should never have agreed to this interview.”

Eralp, who positioned herself in the Berlin election as the best person to counter the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, is poised to become the mayor of Berlin after Die Linke’s win in the September election, but only if she can gather the support to do so.

Because Die Linke did not win an outright majority, Eralp will be required to form a coalition, likely with the center-left SPD and the Greens. However, it is not certain she’ll succeed, as Germany’s mainstream parties have many differences with the hard-left party, especially on security policy, where Die Linke opposes military aid for Ukraine and advocates for Germany to leave NATO. Antisemitism among her supporters has also been an issue amid coalition talks.

Despite her spokesperson ruling out deleting the question about Ibrahim, Der Spiegel said that when it received the transcript file on Wednesday, both the question and Eralp’s answer were in fact gone, but the annotations remained.

The question was deleted, according to both Eralp’s annotations and a later statement by her spokesperson, in the interest of personal security.

The far-left politician noted in the annotations that removing Ibrahim’s name would be in line with past recommendations she received from the State Criminal Police Office (LKA) to never mention specific names when speaking publicly about organized crime.

“Back then, the LKA said they recommended never mentioning specific names. At the time, it was about organized crime. Now it’s about people with ties to Hamas,” she wrote, according to Der Spiegel. “I can’t endanger myself and my family for SPIEGEL. What do we do now? Cancel the whole interview?”

Approached by Der Spiegel for comment after it received the authorized version of the transcript sans mention of Ibrahim, Eralp’s spokesperson argued that the paper should “take Ms. Eralp’s personal security interests into account.”

“Given this general threat level, security authorities advise against attributing political problems to individuals in public statements, especially when their alleged connections to organized crime or terrorist organizations have been reported in the media,” the spokesperson said, according to Der Spiegel.

However, the newspaper noted that after weighing the request against the “political implications of her note,” it was decided to publish the annotations revealing Eralp’s fear of some of her own supporters.

The Die Linke (Left Party’s) main candidate Elif Eralp celebrates on stage following exit polls in Berlin’s state elections in Festsaal Kreuzberg in Berlin on September 20, 2026. (Jens SCHLUETER/AFP)

Eralp has previously distanced herself from controversial incidents concerning anti-Israel supporters, including after a performer at a Die Linke campaign event advocated an “intifada” and chanted “Death to the IDF!”

She also distanced herself from Ibrahim following his attendance at the election party, saying that “celebrating violence and terrorism is absolutely unacceptable,” and reiterating that she stands “for the protection of Jewish life.”

Die Linke has previously been criticized for anti-Israel messages from some district-level figures — an especially sensitive issue in Germany, given its dark history of Nazi rule and the Holocaust.

Eralp had repeatedly emphasized her desire to support and foster Jewish life in Berlin.

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