The leaders of the Berlin Left Party are calling for the Palestinian flag to be hung alongside the Israeli flag in front of the Red City Hall and other public buildings.

"To send a clear signal of sympathy for all those suffering from this war, I think it would be appropriate to raise the Palestinian flag alongside the Israeli flag," co-chair Kerstin Wolter told the Tagesspiegel newspaper (Monday edition). In her view, this would be symbolic politics that takes all those affected into account. "And that's exactly what's not happening right now," she said. In June, the Left Party in Berlin-Mitte called for the Israeli flag to be taken down in front of the Red Town Hall and other public buildings.

The parliamentary group had submitted a corresponding motion to the District Council (BVV). It stated that the district office should lobby the Senate to remove the Israeli national flag from public buildings such as the Red City Hall "out of consideration" for Palestinian Berliners and "out of solidarity with the civilian population in the Gaza Strip and in Palestine." Berlin's Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) had firmly rejected this demand and recommended that the Left Party address its "disturbing stance on anti-Semitism." Wolter, who has been party chairwoman since May, did not support the call to take down the Israeli flag. "If the Israeli flag symbolizes that all hostages must finally be freed from Hamas captivity, we fully support that," she said. At the same time, she said she could understand that people in Berlin perceived the mayor's message as "one-sided" in light of the Israeli government's war crimes in the Gaza Strip. "The Left's position is that we do not apply double standards to human rights crimes," she added. Her co-chair, Maximilian Schirmer, said that recognizing Israel's right to exist and condemning the Hamas attack on Israel were "very clear" party positions. "Recognizing the suffering taking place in the Gaza Strip does not contradict this."