A few weeks ago, the Namibian government then represented by President Hage Geingob issued one of the strongest expressions of solidarity to the Palestinians facing the blows of Israel’s ongoing destruction of Gaza on January 13, in support of South Africa’s case bringing the charge of genocide against Israel to the International Court of Justice. It issued the following statement in response to the German government’s decision to officially support Israel’s denial of these charges [Namibia criticizes Germany]:

Namibia rejects Germany’s support of the genocidal intent of the racist Israeli state against innocent civilians in Gaza. Germany committed the first genocide of the twentieth century in 1904–1908, in which tens of thousands of innocent Namibians died in the most inhumane and brutal conditions . . . President [Hage] Geingob appeals to 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 International Court of Justice.

The German Government is yet to fully atone for the genocide it committed on Namibian soil…

It is no secret that the first genocide of the 20th century was perpetrated by Germany on African soil, in Namibia. It was extremely brutal and almost wiped out all Nama and Herero people. It was a campaign of racial extermination and collective punishment that the German Empire undertook in German South-West Africa (modern-day Namibia) against the Herero and Nama people [Germany in Namibia: the First Genocide of the 20th Century, Germany Returns Skulls of Namibians Genocide Victims, Namibia Rightfully Rejects 10 million Euros Compensation for Genocide].