Namibia’s President Hage Geingob has categorically censured Germany’s support for the 100-day Israeli war on the besieged Gaza Strip.
Geingob’s condemnation came in a statement late on Saturday after Germany became the first country to legally intervene on Israel’s behalf at the Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ) and defend the occupying regime’s genocidal war on Gaza.
Geingob said Berlin committed the first genocide of the 20th century on Namibian soil and “is yet to fully atone for the genocide.”
He was referring to the German colonial forces’ massacre of indigenous Namibians between 1904 and 1908, during which tens of thousands of people lost their lives, with Germany refusing to accept responsibility for reparations.
The Namibian president expressed “deep concern with the shocking decision communicated by the Germany government, on 12 January, 2024, 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.”
Voicing concern, the statement said, “Ignoring the violent deaths of over 23,000 Palestinians in Gaza and various United Nations reports disturbingly highlighting the internal displacement of 85% of civilians in Gaza amid acute shortages of food and essential services.”
Underscoring the Israeli regime’s gruesome acts against innocent civilians in Gaza, Geingob said, “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.”
The Namibian president called on the German government “to reconsider its untimely decision to intervene as a third-party in defense and support of the genocidal acts of Israel before the ICJ.”
During the ICJ’s two days of hearings earlier in the week, South Africa instituted proceedings that accused Israel of genocide against Palestinians and said the regime’s aggression aimed to bring about “the destruction of the population” of Gaza.
German officials had previously rejected the accusation of genocide brought against Israel by the international community and claimed that the brutal aggression was part of “self-defense” against the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.
The Israeli regime waged the war on Gaza on October 7 after Hamas-led Palestinian resistance groups carried out the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime’s atrocities against Palestinians.
Since the start of the aggression, Israel has killed more than 23,843 Palestinians, mostly women and children. Nearly 60,317 Palestinians have also been wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The Tel Aviv regime has also imposed a “complete siege” on the territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food, and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.
