By: Justicia Shipena
Namibia’s radical response to Germany’s position on the ongoing South Africa – Israel genocide case at the International Criminal Court of justice could affect ongoing discussions between the two countries. Following the two-days hearing before UN’s top court, Germany – which had had perpetrated genocide against the Nama and Ovaherero people in Namibia – rejected allegations that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza and warned against “political instrumentalisation” of the charge, as it announced it would intervene in the case as a third party.
However, President Hage Geingob condemned Germany’s “shocking decision” to support Israel in the genocide case at the, especially given the fact that Germany “is yet to fully atone for the genocide it committed on Namibian soil” “The German government has chosen to defend in the ICJ the genocidal and gruesome acts of the Israeli government against innocent civilians in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian Territories,” Geingob said in a statement. Geingob said Germany committed the first genocide of the 20th century in 1904-1908, in which tens of thousands of innocent Namibians died in the most inhumane and brutal conditions. “Germany cannot morally express commitment to the United Nations Convention against genocide, including atonement for the genocide in Namibia, whilst supporting the equivalent of a holocaust and genocide in Gaza. Various international organisations, such as Human Rights Watch have chillingly concluded that Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza,” Geingob said.
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