»Linker Antisemitismus« oder »Antisemitismus unter Linken«?

Abstract Actually, there is no potential for anti-Semitism in leftist ideology, since ethnic or religious identity characteristics are not supposed to play a role there. Nevertheless, there were and are anti-Semitic attitudes among leftists. A look at the German left in the past and present makes this clear: As early as in Marxʼs writings, anti-Semitic stereotypes can be detected. The Communist Party in the Weimar Republic also instrumentalized such stereotypes. And in the Communist organizations in the Federal Republic of Germany, anti-Israel views often had an anti-Semitic background. This also applies to the autonomous movement or the left-wing terrorism of the 1970s to 1980s. Nowadays, such attitudes can be observed in protest movements critical of capitalism, but also among the supporters of the BDS boycott movement. However, it is necessary to differentiate: A one-sided hostility towards Israel can, but does not have to be an expression of an anti-Semitic position.