Namibia criticizes German support for Israel for role in the Namibian Genocide

Namibia asks Germany to “reconsider” its support for Israel in the genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. On Friday afternoon, Germany said it wanted to act on behalf of Israel as a third party in the case brought by South Africa against Israel, because there was “no evidence whatsoever” of genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza by Israel.

Germany is “particularly committed to the Convention against Genocide” due to its own Nazi past, the German government spokesman said. Germany calls the accusation against Israel a “political instrumentalization” of the UN genocide convention.

Namibian President Hage Geingob responded by pointing to the genocide that Germany itself committed in Namibia. “The German government must [daarvoor] still to fully pay.” And so Namibia finds it shocking that Germany, which has not yet reconciled itself with its own genocide committed in Namibia, simultaneously supports Israel accused of genocide.

100,000 Namibians killed

The Germans committed mass murder of the Herero and Nama people in Namibia between 1904 and 1908, killing between 35,000 and 100,000 people, including through starvation and death due to cold in concentration camps. This Namibian Genocide has been classified by the United Nations as the first genocide of the twentieth century. In 2021, Berlin acknowledged in a political and moral sense, but not legally, that it had committed genocide in the southern African country.

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German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit admitted that countries view Israel's actions in Gaza differently, but that Germany expressly rejects the accusations of genocide. “Hamas terrorists have brutally attacked, tortured, murdered and kidnapped innocent people in Israel,” Hebestreit said in a statement. “Since then, Israel has been defending itself against Hamas's inhumane attack.” Israel has killed nearly 24,000 people in its retaliatory attacks on Gaza, according to the Hamas-led Health Ministry.

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