German Jewish leader warns against voting for populist parties
In a letter seen by dpa on Wednesday, the council's president, Josef Schuster, warned that the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) "are home to anti-Semites from the extreme right and radical enemies of Israel and Ukraine from the left."
The letter added: "For the Central Council of Jews in Germany, it is clear that these parties do not want to contribute to the well-being of our society.
"I ask you to take all of this into consideration when you go to the ballot box or cast your vote by post."
Schuster said the AfD's "desire for a 180-degree turnaround in remembrance policy" and its language on Germany's "cult of guilt" are diminishing the memory of the Holocaust and other Nazi crimes.
Its nationalist policies and call for "remigration" are creating a climate of fear, the letter added.
The council's president also argued that the BSW is inverting history with its criticism of Israel actions as "terror."
The AfD, which is under investigation by the domestic intelligence service as a suspected extremist group, is currently polling second ahead of the vote on February 23.
The BSW is fighting to pass the 5% threshold usually needed for entry to the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament.
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