German Opinion poll: A majority of Germans find that what Israel is doing in Gaza is unjustified
In an opinion poll conducted periodically by German Channel 2 (ZDF), the majority of Germans expressed their belief that there is no justification for what the Israeli army is doing in Gaza.
Despite Berlin’s absolute support for Israel in the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, and despite its rejection of the claim to sue Israel before the International Court of Justice on charges of practicing genocide against the Palestinians, it seems that the majority of Germans have another opinion different from the opinion of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government regarding what is happening in the Strip.
The ZDF channel asked a question, “Are there justifications for Israeli military actions in the Gaza Strip despite the many civilian casualties?”
According to the survey, 25% of them answered yes, While the remaining 61% answered no.
As for 14%, they had no opinion, saying, “I don’t know”.
Germany was the only European country that intervened directly to support Israel, after it rejected the accusations made by South Africa against Israel before the International Court of Justice in the case of committing acts of genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The official spokesman for the German government, Steffen Heibstreit, confirmed that Israel was defending itself “in the face of the inhumane attack” launched by Hamas on October 7, according to a report issued by the Times of Israel newspaper.
He indicated in a tweet on X, that Germany would intervene as a third party in the deliberations of the main case before the International Court of Justice, in accordance with the article that allows countries to request clarification on the use of a multilateral agreement.
This step was met with numerous objections and criticism, especially by the prominent German lawyer specializing in international law, Stefan Talmon, who criticized his country’s support for Israel in the International Court.
Talmon said, in a blog post he wrote on his website, “The public announcement of the intervention only two hours after the close of the oral hearings, and before the international court could study the case, and even determine, even if only in principle, the jurisdiction it had to deal with the case, was a step… Full of political goals… It seems that the federal government wanted to show, by any means, its support for Israel”.
The intervention step allows Germany to present its argument to the court, confirming that Israel didn’t violate the Genocide Convention and didn’t commit or intend to commit the crime of genocide.
The decision also aroused the dissatisfaction of Namibia, a country that was under German occupation at the beginning of the twentieth century, and which categorically rejected Berlin’s support for Israel’s position.
In this, the Namibian presidency expressed its deep concern about the shocking decision recently issued by Germany to intervene as a third party before the Court of Justice to support Israel in the genocide case filed against it.
Namibia recalled what it described as the first genocide in the 20th century, which was committed by Germany on its territory between 1904 and 1908, which led to the killing of tens of thousands of innocent Nama and Herero people in Namibia in inhuman and brutal conditions.
Namibian government stressed that Berlin hasn’t yet made amends for the crimes it committed.
