Why is Germany supporting Israel’s genocide in Gaza?

No authorities has been arsenic assiduous successful attacking nan Palestine solidarity activity and supporting Israel’s ongoing genocide successful Gaza arsenic Germany.

Today, it is impossible to clasp a pro-Palestine objection successful Berlin aliases elsewhere successful Germany without facing attacks from nan police, intimidation from nan authorities and accusations of anti-Semitism from nan press.

In April, nan Palestine Assembly, a high-profile pro-Palestine convention successful Berlin was broken up by hundreds of constabulary officers. British Palestinian rector of Glasgow University, Ghassan Abu Sitta, was stopped from entering Germany to be nan convention and deported backmost to nan UK. He was later banned from entering nan full Schengen area.

Abu Sitta, a surgeon who volunteered successful respective Gaza hospitals since past year, was readying to present a reside connected nan horrific information Israeli attacks person near nan Strip’s wellness strategy in. A German tribunal later overturned nan ban.

Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis was besides banned from entering Germany and prevented from moreover participating successful nan Congress via a video link.

German authorities said they targeted Abu Sitta, Varoufakis and others astatine nan convention because they deemed their speeches “anti-Semitic”.

There is nary truth to this claim. Germany is not silencing pro-Palestinian voices to protect nan authorities of Jews and combat anti-Semitism. This is evident not only successful nan contented of nan reside it censures, but besides successful nan measurement Germany treats anti-Zionist Jews who speak successful support of Palestinian rights.

Iris Hefets, a German-Israeli psychoanalyst successful Berlin, for example, was arrested past October connected charges of anti-Semitism. Her only “crime” was stepping unsocial pinch a placard reading: “As an Israeli and arsenic a Jew, extremity nan genocide successful Gaza.”

Within nan aforesaid month, much than a 100 German-Jewish artists, writers, academics, journalists and taste workers published an unfastened missive condemning Germany’s crackdown connected pro-Palestinian reside and accusations of anti-Semitism directed astatine everyone – including Jews for illustration them – who criticise Israel’s conduct.

“What frightens america is nan prevailing ambiance of racism and xenophobia successful Germany, manus successful manus pinch a constraining and paternalistic philo-Semitism. We cull successful peculiar nan conflation of anti-Semitism and immoderate disapproval of nan authorities of Israel.”

So why is Germany moving truthful difficult to guarantee nary 1 speaks against Israel’s behaviour successful Gaza, which triggered a genocide lawsuit astatine nan ICJ?

The reply lies successful Germany’s history – but it is not, arsenic galore presume tied to efforts to atone for nan Nazi Holocaust and guarantee that it ne'er happens again.

Germany was ne'er afloat de-Nazified. It ne'er attempted to travel to position pinch nan authorities that had led to nan emergence of Hitler.

In nan aftermath of World War II nan German state’s reacceptance into nan world organization was made contingent connected a process of de-Nazification. However, this process was soon abandoned.  It was overtaken by nan Cold War. Germany made amends for its crimes against nan Jews – but not nan Roma – by providing unconditional and unlimited backing to nan recently founded “Jewish state”, nan West’s subject outpost successful Palestine: Israel.

Eliminating nan governmental structures that led to nan emergence of nan Nazis – imperialism and nan German military-industrial analyzable – would person tally antagonistic to nan request to reason nan Soviet Union.

In nan contiguous aftermath of nan war, location was beardown guidance successful nan West to German rearmament. The 1944 Morgenthau Plan, supported by past US President Roosevelt, called for nan complete elimination of nan German arms manufacture and different industries that could lend to nan rebuilding of a German military.  Post-war Germany was to beryllium an cultivation and pastoral state.

However, nan Cold War meant nan West needed Germany arsenic portion of nan Western alliance. Chancellor Konrad Adenauer’s closest aide, Hans Globke, had been integrally progressive successful nan implementation of nan 1935 Nuremberg Race Laws. During nan 1961 Eichmann proceedings “extraordinary precautions” were taken by Prosecutor Gideon Hausner to forestall Globke’s sanction from being made public.

In 1953, Germany started paying reparations – not to individual survivors of nan Holocaust, but nan authorities of Israel successful nan shape of business goods, including weaponry. The West focussed connected nan Soviet Union. De-Nazification was softly forgotten arsenic Germany was integrated into Western subject alliances, joining NATO successful 1955.

Instead of nan elimination of nan genocidal ideology that paved nan measurement for nan Holocaust, arsenic was primitively intended, location was substituted an unconditional clasp of Israel. Israel is treated arsenic Germany’s “reason of state“.

This abandonment of de-Nazification transformed nan Nazi Holocaust from a merchandise of Germany’s societal and economical situation during nan Weimar play into an inexplicable ahistorical anomaly, that emerged from obscurity and had nary roots successful German nationalist psyche. It placed nan emergence of Hitler and nan Nazis supra people and politics.

The Holocaust was not Germany’s first genocide. Between 1904 and 1907 nan German service nether General Lothar von Trotha killed 80 percent of nan Herero and 50 percent of nan Nama peoples successful Southwest Africa. Thousands were herded into attraction camps, wherever nan mostly died.

The Nazi conception of “lebensraum” aliases surviving abstraction was developed successful 1897 by Freidrich Ratzel. Trotha and nan Germans campaigned mercilessly towards an “endlosung” aliases last solution.

In nan “Genocidal Gaze” Elizabeth Baer described this genocide arsenic “a benignant of dress rehearsal” for nan Nazi holocaust.

The colony’s imperial administrator, Heinrich Goring, was nan begetter of Hermann Goring, Hitler’s deputy. Fischer performed gruesome experiments connected nan inmates, sending their severed heads backmost to Germany earlier going connected to train nan Nazi SS doctors, including Josef Mengele, nan main SS expert astatine Auschwitz.

The German state’s clasp of Israel’s existent onslaught successful Gaza isn’t caused by guilt complete nan Holocaust truthful overmuch arsenic nan request to normalise and relativise it. Supporting Israel’s holocaust, arsenic an enactment of basal “self-defence” allows Germany to clasp connected to nan fictions it created astir its ain holocausts.

German authorities afloat understand that Israel is committing a genocide, and has started this warfare pinch nan volition of ethnically cleansing and exterminating nan Palestinian people

They person seen nan footage from Gaza. They are alert of nan indiscriminate bombing and nan starvation. They person heard nan grounds South Africa presented astatine nan ICJ.

They cognize really Defence Minister Yoav Gallant began nan genocide by describing Palestinians arsenic “human animals” – nan aforesaid building Himmler used astir nan Jews connected October 4, 1943, successful a talk to SS generals. They are undoubtedly alert that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich spoke astir really “justified and moral” it would beryllium to starve 2 cardinal Palestinians.

In short, German authorities cognize what Israel is doing – they cognize that their state is committing different Holocaust. They are simply trying to formed this arsenic normal, conscionable and inevitable, because they person done nan aforesaid respective times complete successful their not-so-distant history.

The views expressed successful this article are nan author’s ain and do not needfully bespeak Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.