Germany is the first country to legally defend Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as a third party.
Germany’s decision has generated a significant amount of negative feedback from around the world, including UN rapporteurs, as Germany should be supporting efforts to enforce the Genocide Convention, not opposing it, says Balakrishnan Rajagopal.
“Germany should be supporting efforts to enforce the Genocide Convention, not oppose it,” wrote Balakrishnan Rajagopal, UN special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, on X.
In addition, Tlaleng Mofokeng, UN special rapporteur on the right to health, criticised Germany for trying to prevent Israel from being tried for its crimes in Gaza:
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).
Despite all the accusations against Germany, German federal government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit earlier said Berlin rejects the genocide allegations against Israel because “It has no basis whatsoever.”
This reaction to Israel’s accusations has much to do with Germany’s historical responsibility for the Holocaust, according to Olaf Scholz.
Scholz’s views are in line with academic Daniel Marwecki, author of Germany and Israel: Whitewashing and Statebuilding, who states that “All the leading German politicians think [that defending Israel] is morally the right thing to do because of the German past,” in an interview with Al Jazeera.
Scholz is the first foreign head of state to visit Israel since 7 October, allowing Israel’s ambassador in Berlin, Ron Prosor, to declare that Germany has become Tel Aviv’s “best ally in Europe.”
Israel has been launching air and ground strikes on the Gaza Strip, which has already killed at least 23,843 Palestinians, mostly children and women, and injured 60,317, according to health authorities.
