by JOHANNES STERN
Between 1904 and 1908, German imperialism committed the first genocide of the 20th century with the suppression of the Herrero and Nama uprising in what was then the German Empire colony of German South West Africa (now part of Namibia). This was followed between 1941 and 1945 by the murder of 6 million Jews and the war of annihilation against the Soviet Union, which cost the lives of up to 30 million Soviet citizens, the largest genocide in history.
In the 21st century, Germany’s ruling class is seamlessly continuing these traditions of genocide. It is one of the most aggressive supporters of the genocidal actions of the far-right Netanyahu regime and the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip. On Tuesday, news magazine Der Spiegel reported that Germany was preparing to deliver around 10,000 rounds of 120-millimetre precision tank ammunition to Israel. It had previously become known that Berlin had increased its arms exports to Israel tenfold since the beginning of the mass slaughter in the Gaza Strip.
At the same time, the German government is also backing Israel in legal terms. On January 12, government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit announced that Germany would intervene as a third party before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to speak out against South Africa’s lawsuit against Israeli genocide in Gaza, which is supported by at least 60 states.
“We know that different countries have different assessments of Israel’s operation in the Gaza Strip. However, the German government firmly and explicitly rejects the accusation of genocide that has now been levelled against Israel at the International Court of Justice,” said Hebestreit. “This accusation has no basis whatsoever.”
In fact, the lawyers representing the South African government before the ICJ had clearly demonstrated just one day earlier that Israel was guilty of genocide and had thus violated the 1948 Genocide Convention. The WSWS has reported how the lawyers’ submissions demonstrated both Israel’s destructive and mass murderous actions and the genocidal intentions behind them.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the Israeli army killed nearly 24,000 Palestinians in the first 100 days of the genocide, including more than 9,600 children. More than 60,000 people were injured. In relation to Germany, this would correspond to 850,000 dead and 2.5 million injured. Almost 2 million people, i.e., almost the entire population of the Gaza Strip, have been forced to flee and are starving as a result of the Israeli blockade. Schools, hospitals and refugee camps are also being systematically bombed and journalists and healthcare workers deliberately killed.
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