UNITED NATIONS, Jan 14 (APP): Germany’s decision to become the first country to legally defend Israel’s deadly war on besieged Gaza at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as a third party had drawn a significant number of negative reactions from across the world, including UN experts.

“Shocking abdication of all responsibility by Germany,” wrote Balakrishnan Rajagopal, UN special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, on X.

“May better angels prevail,” he wrote. “Germany should be supporting efforts to enforce the Genocide Convention, not oppose it.”

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 Tel Aviv’s aggression aimed to bring about “the destruction of the population” of Gaza.

Separately, Tlaleng Mofokeng, UN special rapporteur on the right to health, also criticized Germany for trying to prevent Israel from being tried for crimes it has been committing with its ongoing war against Palestinian fighters.

“The state (Germany) that committed more than one genocide throughout its history is trying to undermine the efforts of a country (South Africa) that is a victim of colonialism and apartheid, to protect another genocide and an occupying nuclear power (Israel),” she lamented on X.

“Germany? Are you for real? We hope you can do better!!,” she added.

German federal government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit previously announced on X that Berlin “firmly rejects the accusation of genocide made against Israel.”

It has no basis whatsoever. We will therefore speak as a third party in the main hearing before the International Court of Justice,” he added.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had attributed his country’s unconditional support for Israel after Oct. 7 to Germany’s historical responsibility for the Holocaust.

Berlin had put forward the same reason when blocking demonstrations of support for Palestine in Germany on the grounds of combating anti-semitism.

During this period, more than 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrations were not allowed in the country, while in the capital, students were banned from carrying Palestinian shawls and stickers with Palestinian flags on them.

In the state of Bavaria, the slogan: “Palestine will be free from the river to the sea,” used in pro-Palestinian demonstrations, was banned on the grounds it was “anti-semitic.”

Scholz was the first foreign head of government to visit Israel after Oct. 7.

Israel’s Ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, announced that Germany has become Tel Aviv’s “best ally in Europe” after the unconditional and unlimited support it has given since Oct. 7.

Tensions have been running high across the West Bank amid an Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.

The Israeli escalation resulted in the killing of 347 Palestinians and injury to 4,000 others, including 593 children, since Oct. 7, according to the Ministry of Health. The arrest of 5,822 Palestinians has been recorded, according to prisoner affairs institutions.

Israel has launched air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the Hamas’ cross-border attacks, killing at least 23,843 Palestinians, mostly children and women, and injuring 60,317 others, according to health authorities in the enclave.

Meanwhile, Namibia said Sunday that Germany committed the first genocide of the 20th century on Namibian soil and “is yet to fully atone for the genocide.”

Namibia rejected Germany’s support to Israel’s attacks in Gaza, the presidency of Namibia said in a statement on X.

President of Namibia, Hage Geingob, expressed “deep concern with the shocking decision communicated by the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany yesterday, 12 January 2024, in which it rejected the morally upright indictment brought forward by South Africa before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.”

The statement stressed concern, stating, “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…”

Germany “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,” it added.

“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 statement pointed out.

Several global entities, including Human Rights Watch, have “chillingly” determined that Israel is engaging in war crimes within the Gaza Strip, it highlighted.

Emphasizing the president’s call on 32 Dec. 2023, it said: “Geingob appeals to the German Government to reconsider its untimely decision to intervene as a third-party in defence and support of the genocidal acts of Israel before the ICJ.”

Earlier, President Gaigob stated, “No peace-loving human being can ignore the carnage waged against Palestinians in Gaza.”

German colonial forces carried out the Namibian genocide against the indigenous Herero and Nama peoples between 1904 and 1908.

During the target of populations resisting colonial forces, at least 65,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama lost their lives.

As a result of the genocide, the Herero population decreased by at least 70%, and the Nama population decreased by at least 50%.

While Germany acknowledged the crimes committed in Namibia as genocide in 2021, it refused to accept responsibility for reparations.

APP/ift