Inge Höger

Inge Höger was born in 1950.[1] Before her parliamentary career, she was active in the labor movement, serving as chair of the women's committee of the German Trade Union Federation (DGB), an umbrella organization of labor unions, from 1993 to 2005.[1] She subsequently entered electoral politics as a member of Die Linke and entered the Bundestag, Germany's federal parliament, in 2005.[1] A Bundestag plenary record from June 27, 2013, lists her speaking for Die Linke during parliamentary proceedings.[5]

Höger served in the Bundestag for Die Linke beginning in 2005.[1] By 2016, she was identified as a member of a Left Party group called the National Working Circle of Just Peace in the Middle East.[6] Her activities concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict included participation in the 2010 Freedom Flotilla and involvement in several disputed political events during the following years.[2][7]

In November 2014, Höger and fellow Left Party parliamentarian Annette Groth organized a Bundestag-related event whose advertisement advocated German recognition of Palestinian statehood and referred to alleged Israeli "war crimes" during Operation Protective Edge.[3] After Left Party faction leader Gregor Gysi withdrew use of the party's meeting room, the event proceeded at another venue and featured activists Max Blumenthal and David Sheen, who subsequently urged a boycott of Israel.[3]

In May 2010, Höger was one of two Die Linke members of the Bundestag aboard the Mavi Marmara, which attempted to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza as part of the Freedom Flotilla.[2][7] She was joined by fellow Bundestag member Annette Groth and former Left Party parliamentarian Norman Paech.[8] Höger and Groth were accommodated on a women-only deck of the vessel, and both publicly presented their participation as part of a peace and humanitarian mission.[9]

Israel's interception of the flotilla provoked immediate controversy. Israeli embassy chargé d'affaires Emmanuel Nahshon criticized the German parliamentarians, saying they had behaved irresponsibly and were more interested in supporting Hamas than in delivering aid.[2] Höger rejected that characterization: "We wanted to bring aid to Gaza. Nobody had a weapon," she said. She also described Israel's seizure of the vessel as "in contravention of international law" and "an act of piracy."[2] Upon returning to Berlin, Höger and Groth were welcomed by Left Party leader Gesine Lötzsch.[10]

A local Free Democratic Party politician subsequently filed a criminal complaint against Höger, Groth, and Paech, accusing them of incitement to hatred and support for a terrorist organization.[8] These were allegations by the complainant, not findings established by a court. The episode later appeared in a broader analysis of German far-left organizations and their involvement in campaigns concerning Israel and Gaza.[7]

The Mavi Marmara voyage remained a recurring reference point in later assessments of Höger's political activity. A 2021 Institute for National Security Studies memorandum mentioned a 2010 controversy involving her among several German debates cited in a discussion of antisemitic argument patterns, while the Simon Wiesenthal Center's 2014 list included the Left Party's anti-Israel parliamentary wing, including Höger.[11][4] Within Die Linke, the disputes also prompted organized criticism from fellow party members, including a 2014 petition seeking sanctions against Höger and three colleagues.[3]

Höger's participation in the Mavi Marmara voyage and her conduct in subsequent years generated accusations from Israeli officials, researchers, and critics within her own party. The Institute for National Security Studies discussed a 2010 case involving Höger in a report on contemporary antisemitism in German political discourse. Its placement of the case in that analysis was a characterization by the report's authors rather than an uncontested description of her views.[11]

In April 2011, following the murders of Palestinian-Israeli filmmaker Juliano Mer-Khamis and Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni, Höger was reported to have blamed both deaths on the Israeli government.[12] The source states that radical Salafists were responsible for Arrigoni's murder and that Islamist involvement was widely believed in the Mer-Khamis case. Höger also alleged that Palestinians were sometimes recruited to collaborate with Israel in the murder of other Palestinians in exchange for money, identity documents, or travel permits. She cited the Lavon Affair as precedent: "In the past there have been many documented false flag attacks (for example, the Lavon Affair [in 1954])."[12]

The 2014 Bundestag event prompted a formal protest within Die Linke. Eleven Left Party members of parliament signed a petition titled "You don't speak in our name," and nearly 500 people added their names online.[3] The petition called for sanctions against Höger, Groth, Heike Hänsel, and Claudia Haydt, accusing party members in responsible positions of "stoking obsessive hate and demonization of Israel with an anti-Semitic argument pattern and trivialization of the Holocaust."[3] These were characterizations made by the petitioners, not judicial findings.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center's 2014 annual list highlighted the Left Party's anti-Israel parliamentary wing, including Höger and Groth, among the year's notable antisemitic or anti-Israel incidents. It attributed to them a role in organizing the Bundestag event and in what the Center described as efforts to demonize Israel.[4] In 2016, the National Working Circle of Just Peace in the Middle East was reported to support a teacher associated with a total boycott of Israel. The same report noted that some members of the group, including Höger, had previously appeared on the Wiesenthal Center's annual list; it did not quote Höger personally endorsing the teacher's specific statements.[6]