Self-Confessed Leftist Terrorist Running For Election in Germany

Gerd Schnepel, 82, is campaigning for a board seat despite openly admitting membership in a violent Palestinian-aligned terror cell during the 1970s, according to Breitbart News. The development comes as Die Linke, the modern successor to East Germany’s ruling Communist party during the Cold War, experiences a dramatic surge in membership driven largely by radical anti-Israel sentiment.

German newspaper Die Welt reports that Schnepel faces no legal consequences due to Germany’s 20-year statute of limitations on non-lethal terrorism offenses. He evaded prosecution by fleeing to Nicaragua in 1978 and only recently returned to the country.

By his own account, Schnepel belonged to the urban guerrilla organisation Revolutionary Cells and carried out a bombing attack on an ITT defence and communications facility in Nuremberg. The group targeted the American contractor over allegations it supported the 1973 Chilean coup. Schnepel also operated a printing press producing forged identity documents and maintained a romantic relationship with one of the Entebbe hijackers.

In his manifesto for the Die Linke election, Schnepel openly celebrates his four years in the Revolutionary Cells, including collaboration with the Marxist-Leninist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a designated terrorist organisation.

The Revolutionary Cells conducted dozens of bombings and assassinations throughout the 1970s, including participation in the 1975 OPEC Siege alongside notorious terrorist Carlos the Jackal. However, the group’s most notorious operation remains the 1976 Entebbe hijacking, when German leftist militants joined Palestinian terrorists in commandeering Air France Flight 139 en route from Tel Aviv to Paris and diverting it to Entebbe Airport in Uganda.

The hijackers separated Jewish from non-Jewish passengers, releasing the latter while demanding Israel free imprisoned Palestinian militants in exchange for the remaining hostages. Four captives were killed before Israeli special forces executed a daring rescue operation one week later, eliminating seven hijackers including Schnepel’s then-girlfriend.

Schnepel has claimed ignorance of his girlfriend’s involvement, stating he learned of the attack through radio broadcasts. In recent years he has worked to rehabilitate the reputation of hard-left terror groups, characterising them as anti-fascist, anti-imperialist and anti-Zionist while denying antisemitic motivations.

The sole Israeli casualty of the Entebbe rescue was commando Yonatan Netanyahu, elder brother of current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The controversy arrives as Die Linke undergoes a dramatic transformation. Long dismissed as an aging fringe party polling in the low single digits, the tax-the-rich and open-borders organisation now registers between 11 and 12 per cent in surveys, as Breitbart News reports. Party membership has more than doubled in two years following the October 7 attack on Israel, as German politics fractures and ultra-left extremism gains ground.

The explosive growth has positioned Die Linke as a potential future coalition partner, a scenario previously considered impossible. However, the influx of new recruits is creating internal tensions within the organisation.

German publication Süddeutsche Zeitung reports that this weekend’s convention could produce unexpected outcomes, as the majority of attendees will likely be recent sign-ups whose policy positions diverge sharply from those of the post-Cold War establishment.

Current party leadership recognises that the massive wave of new members is primarily motivated by Middle East politics. Die Linke presently affirms Israel’s right to exist, an unusual stance among Western hard-left movements but rooted in Germany’s post-war commitment to combating antisemitism. Social media activity from new members indicates widespread rejection of this position, with many advocating declarations of genocide in Palestine and supporting a single-state solution that would eliminate Israel.

Veteran party leaders have begun pushing back against the ideological shift. Die Linke Member of Parliament Sören Pellmann warned that anyone questioning Israel’s right to exist must consider whether they belong in the party. Yet control may be slipping from the old guard’s grasp.

The new membership skews heavily young and female, causing the party’s average age to plummet over the past two years. Whether longtime members recognise the irony of being displaced by the same revolutionary demographic energy that once propelled Communist movements remains to be seen.

With information from Breitbart News