On January 12, Germany said it will intervene on Israel’s behalf in the genocide case brought against it by South Africa at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over its war on Gaza.
“The German government firmly and explicitly rejects the accusation of genocide that has now been made against Israel before the International Court of Justice. This accusation has no basis whatsoever,” a spokesperson for the German government said in a statement as it accused South Africa of “politicising” genocide.
“In view of Germany’s history, crimes against humanity, and Shoah [the genocide of Jewish people under the German Nazi regime during World War II, the Ηolocaust], the government is particularly committed to the UN Genocide Convention,” the spokesperson added.
The announcement, which shockingly suggested Germany has a better understanding of the convention than any other nation due to its responsibility for the genocide that led to its conception, caused widespread anger across many Global South countries that had tied their hopes of bringing an end to the carnage in Gaza to South Africa’s landmark case at the World Court.
One country was particularly vocal in expressing its frustration with and disappointment in Germany’s intervention: Namibia.
On January 13, Namibia’s presidency condemned Germany’s “shocking decision” to support Israel at the ICJ.
In a statement published on X, it reminded the world that Germany committed the first genocide of the 20th century in Namibia in 1904-1908, in which “tens of thousands of innocent Namibians died in the most inhumane and brutal conditions”, and never fully atoned for this horrific crime.
In light of its apparent inability to draw lessons from its horrific history, the presidency said, Germany should “reconsider its untimely decision to intervene as a third-party in defence and support of the genocidal acts of Israel” before the ICJ.
“Germany cannot morally express commitment to the United Nations Convention against genocide”, or truly atone for the genocide it committed on Namibian soil, it concluded, while “supporting the equivalent of a holocaust and genocide in Gaza”.
In this short statement, the tiny Southern African nation of 2.7 million, which was a German colony between 1884–1919, exposed Germany’s comprehensive failure to deal with its atrocious colonial past, and blatant double standards about genocide, in one breath.
