But we both know that in politics it does indeed matter from who a certain message comes, and under which circumstances it's conveyed. Merkel in particular is famous (or infamous, if you will) for avoiding tough stances on any topic that doesn't already have a lot of political consensus behind it, and this is certainly not the way to go about it if you want her to move. Especially during a Grand Coalition. Socialist and Green parties all over Western Europe have garnered tons of reliable Muslim voters; they can't afford to alienate them in any way. In my hometown, the local neo-Communist party has strong ties with some parts of the Muslim community, and it shows clearly in their stance on Israel and other things (not that they'd be big fans of Israel under other circumstances, either). And never mind that those Muslim voters are massively more conservative on social issues (on the bright side, the Communist influence might liberalize them a bit on that point...).