Namibia Condemns German Rejection of Genocide Case Against Israel

Namibian President Hage Geingob has called on Germany to "reconsider its untimely decision" to reject the charge that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza in the case brought by South Africa at the International Court of Justice in the Hague.

"On Namibian soil, 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," he said in a media statement issued on January 13. ''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,'' he said.

Joining in the criticism in a post on her personal account on the social media platform X/Twitter, First Lady Monica Geingos added: "The absurdity of Germany, on 12 January 2024, rejecting genocide charges against Israel and warning about the ''political instrumentalisation of the charge'' is not lost on us."

Geingob was responding to a statement from the German goverment rejecting the genocide charge against Israel. Steffen Hebestreit, a government spokesman said in a post on X/Twitter: "It has no basis whatsoever. We will therefore speak as a third party in the main hearing before the International Court of Justice."