Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Germany, which committed genocide in Namibia, blasted for defending Israel by African nation

Adam Schrader
Sun, January 14, 2024 

Hage Geingob, president of Namibia, addresses the 70th session of the General Debate of the United Nations General Assembly held at the UN in New York City
 File Photo by Monika Graff/UPI

Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Namibian President Hage G. Geingob blasted Germany on Saturday for defending Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, pointing to the genocide Germany itself perpetrated on Namibians in the early 1900s.

Geingob's comments come just a week after King Abdullah of Jordan commented about the alleged genocide in Palestine while speaking at the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Rwanda, a memorial for 250,000 of the Tutsi people killed during the 1994 genocide.

Israel has been accused of genocide by South Africa for the mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, food blockades, and the infliction of bodily and mental harm on civilians.


In Gaza alone, Israeli forces have killed more than 23,000 people and displaced 85% of the population internally, escalating the decades-long conflict with Palestine - which has observer status at the United Nations and is recognized as a nation by 139 of the 193 member states in the U.N. Israel is recognized by 163, for comparison.

"The German government is yet to fully atone for the genocide it committed on Namibian soil," Geingob's office said on social media.

Known as the Herero and Namaqua genocide and recognized as the first genocide of the 20th century by Holocaust museums, German colonizers invaded and slaughtered as many as 100,000 of the Herero people and 10,000 of the Nama people living in modern Namibia.

German soldiers raped thousands of Namibian women and Eugene Fischer, a doctor, conducted medical experiments on the children born from the rapes -- later inspiring Nazi doctor Joseph Mengele during Germany's genocide of the Jews and other groups in Europe.

"In light of Germany's inability to draw lessons from its horrific history, President Geingob expresses deep concern with the shocking decision communicated by [Germany] ... in which it rejected the morally upright indictment brought forward by South Africa before the ICJ that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza," Geingob's office said.

Geingob's office blasted the "genocidal and gruesome" acts perpetrated by Israel in Gaza and noted that Human Rights Watch and other advocacy groups have "chillingly concluded that Israel is committing war crimes." The president has asked Germany to reconsider its decision to intervene in the ICJ case as a third party.

In his remarks in Rwanda, Abdullah supported calls for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict and blasted Israel for its "indiscriminate aggression and shelling" of Gaza.

Cambodia, which also endured a horrific genocide in the 20th century, has long supported the full establishment of the state of Palestine along borders established in 1967. But Cambodia has maintained neutrality among the latest conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

Namibia criticises German support for Israel over ICJ genocide case

Danai Nesta Kupemba - BBC News
Sun, January 14, 2024 

President Hage Geingob has appealed to Germany to retract its support of Israel

Namibia has condemned former colonial ruler Germany for rejecting a case at the UN's top court accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

Germany has offered to intervene on Israel's behalf in the case brought by South Africa at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

President Hage Geingob urged Germany to "reconsider its untimely decision to intervene as a third-party in defence".

In 2021 Berlin acknowledged committing genocide in Namibia.

German colonisers massacred more than 70,000 Herero and Nama people between 1904 and 1908. Historians consider this to be the 20th Century's first genocide.

President Geingob said Germany could not "morally express commitment to the United Nations Convention against genocide, including atonement for the genocide in Namibia" and at the same time support Israel.

"The German Government is yet to fully atone for the genocide it committed on Namibian soil," he added.

On Friday the German government said the accusation of genocide against Israel was completely unfounded and amounted to a "political instrumentalisation" of the UN genocide convention.

"In view of Germany's history and the crime against humanity of the Holocaust, the government sees itself as particularly committed to the genocide convention," it said.

It said Hamas - which attacked Israel on 7 October, triggering the current war - aimed to destroy Israel, which was acting in self defence.

Hamas killed about 1,300 people, most of them civilians, and took about 240 others hostage on 7 October.

Since then Israel has killed nearly 24,000 people, mostly children and women, in its retaliatory attacks on Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The UN and humanitarian organisations have warned of the risk of famine in Gaza as well as the spread of disease among displaced people and have urged that more aid be allowed into the territory.

The scale of the Israeli response prompted South Africa to ask the ICJ to consider whether Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.

Pretoria's case included a litany of alleged Israeli offences, from the indiscriminate killing of Palestinian civilians to the wholesale destruction of Gaza's infrastructure.

Israel has strongly rejected the allegation, calling it "baseless" and its legal team was scathing about South Africa's submission, arguing that if anyone was guilty of genocide, it was Hamas.

Germany admits colonial-era Namibia genocide


Israel and S Africa play heavy on emotion in genocide case


What is the genocide case against Israel?

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