Why are Germans Genocidal?
Why German society is an outlier when it comes to opposing genocide.
People currently paying close attention to Germany often ask “Why are Germans genocidal?” The most recent developments (or regressions) in Germany’s response to dissenting voices against Israel’s actions have been shocking, with Nicaragua filing a case against Germany in the ICJ for violating its obligation to prevent genocide.
While most western governments have been actively supporting the (plausible) genocide in Gaza, one thing makes Germany an outlier: German people. No other place, despite their government’s blatant criminal positions, has witnessed such a feeble response from their own citizens. Only in Germany has there been the equivalent of silence in the face of the most brutal practices, not just of the Israeli government against Palestinians, but against the repression of free speech, basic rights and liberties exercised by Germany’s government and institutions against pro-Palestinian, or more accurately anti-genocidal voices.
And it’s not that Germans do not have the will to go out and protest, on the contrary, when Correctiv broke the news of a secret AfD meeting that planned to kick migrants out of Germany, Germans went out in full force to reject AfD and its racist plans. Yet even at the height of this stance against racism, Germans forgot that similar statements about deporting outsiders were made by Chancellor Olaf Scholz when he said, “We have to deport people more often and faster”. Indeed even Scholz himself seems to have forgotten and joined the march himself, conveniently ignoring his own racism for censoring anti-genocide voices and infringing on their basic rights.
The German protestors valiantly defied AfD’s plan but ironically mimicked some of their stances. Palestinians were mostly unwelcomed during the protests, ridiculed, insulted, mistreated and occasionally told to leave not just the protest but the country. Only in Germany, in a protest that denounced a plan to kick migrants out of the country, would protestors kick out the migrants joining them demanding they be kicked out of the country. This pattern has continued in various places across Germany, among many so called “anti-racist” protestors.
That Germans remain so vehemently against pro-Palestinian sentiments at a time when the International Court of Justice(ICJ) ruled that a plausible genocide is happening right now in Gaza is bewildering. Germans pride themselves in their reasoning abilities yet why do they fall short when it comes to recognizing a blatant atrocity? That is why the question is often asked in disbelief, “Why are Germans genocidal?”
But are they genocidal?
Yet truth be told, the framing of the question is absurd. The question merely reflects the impossibility of having a conversation about Israel or Palestine in Germany and condemns society’s silence in the face of German government and media’s complicity.
It is impossible to paint the sum of society in such a broad stroke and yet German government and media have done a far more ridiculous thing that and have gone out of their way to paint those opposed to genocide and killing of children as terror sympathizers. Moreover, I do not think that German individuals are genocidal, but one must try and understand why they may seem that way.
In my view, there is a mixture of pride and historic shame that contribute to the German reaction to the question of Palestine, and now more recently, genocide. On the government side, there is also the more practical aspect of business interests. German government stands nothing to gain by supporting Palestinian people, yet so much to lose economically if they stand against Israel’s genocidal practices.
Yet we must make a distinction between German government and German society. German government effectively has a monopoly on criticizing Israel without labeling itself as anti-Semitic. We see German government occasionally criticizing Israel’s illegal settlements and the civilian death toll in Gaza. But only officials can criticize Israel and not society, much less the seemingly inferior people of Arab descent. Germany has anti-antisemitism commissioners to make sure that society is kept in check, whose top bureaucrat isn’t even Jewish.
A famous example of that distinction between society and government is Hubert Aiwanger, a German politician whose history of anti-Semitism that was brushed off fairly easily compared to artists, academics, activists and other members of society who have not made anti-Semitic statements.
Silencing Society
The silencing of German society is not only through media a lot of which is publicly financed but through public funding of academia. Indeed we’ve seen examples of the FU being pressured by Berlin senate into calling police into its campus to arrest and charge students. Institutions like Max Plank and even the Berlinale have had to comply with the government’s radical world view in order not to lose their funding both inside Germany and abroad. In that sense, German society is under siege by its government to contain any criticism to Israel under the guise of fighting anti-Semitism.
But here is what it comes down to, members of German society do not want to be seen as “bad guys.” They do not want to be pointed at and described as evil or anti-Semitic. Many Germans would be sympathetic with the plight of Palestinians had the perpetrator not been Israel. In fact, in recent polls, nearly 70% of Germans see that Israel’s offensive in Gaza is unjustified, slightly higher than 61% in December.
The anti-genocide protests threaten two basic dogmas or fears that German society harbors, both consciously and unconsciously. One is Israel’s right to defend itself, something that UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese has skillfully addressed. The argument can be summed up that an occupier does not have the legal right of self-defense if the threat comes from a territory they occupy.
The other is Israel’s right to exist. It’s worth noting that no other state in the world has the ‘right’ to exist. People have a right to exist, states have the duty to facilitate that right of existence. In fact, Israel’s ‘right’ to exist as a state runs counter to the existence of Palestinians as anything but subdued. German society seem to be accepting the annihilation of another nation as long as the perpetrators are its historical victims.
A Secular Theocracy
In German society, the mere criticism of Israel has become off limits. It is not a topic any German would want to engage in at the risk of being labeled evil or anti-Semitic. As a result of state policy and social pressure, along with the continuous fear of the rise of anti-Semitism and re-adoption of Nazi ideas, conversations are continuously shut down.
The topic has become taboo, with no chance of understanding it correctly and the only room for maneuvering in the topic within German society was performative acts of who loves Israel more. In a sense it resembles a religion, unquestionable, unspeakable, and indeed any dissenting opinion is treated as blasphemy. It is no wonder many in German society are utterly devastated that so many innocent people are dying including demonstrably innocent children but are unable to speak up to criticize their killing. It is the equivalent of a non-believer raising questions about religion in a theocratic state which acts punitively in the face of such questions. It is simply not tolerated and leaves no room for discussion.
Imagine years of living under an invisible theocracy. What kind of knowledge would it produce? Certainly a biased knowledge that distorts the facts, but what’s more, it will produce a set of deeply seeded emotions, that cause utter confusion, particularly when faced with a reality that runs counter to the imaginary created by the German creed of guilt and shame.
In the German imaginary, the situation between Israel and Palestine is a conflict between two sides, each side having similar responsibilities, there is no occupier and occupied, and even if there is, that is the status quo that Palestinians must not resist. To make matters worse and provide German society with an excuse not to engage with the moral question of supporting genocide, history is never accurately told, and Palestinian resistance is painted with a broad brush of terrorism. There is no real acceptance that there can be a resistance movement. Armed struggle is viewed as terrorism.
In the German imaginary, Jews are the victims, always and forever. Even when they have agency, even when they have control, guns and are the perpetrators not those who pull the trigger. They are the victims that Germans have a duty to support. Germans become the ultimate perpetrators and Jews become the ultimate victims. Indeed the Germans have elevated Israel’s victim status to the point that there can be no superior victim. That is the German creed which explains the zeal with which true believers fight anti-genocidal voices so vehemently.
In German culture there is a phrase often used, “Bedingungslose Solidarität” which means unconditional solidarity. But if Germany’s solidarity and support for Israel is unconditional, then perpetrating war crimes and genocide is not a condition for that support to stop. This is what makes it impossible to reason with the German government since their professed mantra is that nothing can change their position no matter what Israel does.
A Moral Conundrum
For the many anti-genocide Germans who have broken free of cultural brainwashing and understand the real historical context of Palestine, the current state of affairs feels very defeating. Their government and media have betrayed the promise of reasonable thinking and action, and what’s more their society once again remains condemned as complicit silent partners in genocide.
For the many who have the ability to think critically but do not have access to relevant information, the present situation presents an insurmountable conundrum. How is it that the ‘permanent victims’ are killing in mass, targeting journalists, hospitals, children, lying, depriving a population of food, water and electricity while still claiming to be the victim?
And now, Germans find themselves either being labeled as (fake) anti-Semites if they oppose the mass murder of Palestinian innocent civilians or real genocide supporters if they support and justify Israel’s actions. It’s becoming more difficult to hide behind the often cited “complexity” of the situation amidst the clearest atrocity of our time.
In order to feed the German imaginary, every institution, every media outlet, every television channel does not dare challenge the state narrative. Everything that alludes to the truth of Israel’s crimes is branded anti-Semitic, targeting even the Jews that have stood up so bravely against the genocide and keep repeating, ‘Never again for anyone’ and ‘Not in our name’. It is no surprise then that every protest is covered with journalistic fitting only with an authoritarian controlled state channel in a dictatorship. Everything is misrepresented and smeared and editors would not dare to allow an honest journalist to publish the truth as they have seen it. Criticism of Germany is more tolerated than criticism of Israel. It is then no wonder that the average German citizen cannot inform themselves adequately as no balanced resources are permitted to be within their reach.
Germans repeat the mantra of free speech and freedom as they censor pro-Palestinian voices and slap them with baseless accusations of racism and anti-Semitism. They often mention that free speech is in the constitution as though that would hinder its violation. Meanwhile society is unable to be informed or have a conversation because they have no surviving sources of information that can present them with facts with journalistic integrity, for they will be destroyed with smear campaigns backed by institutional censorship and retaliation. Masha Gessen and Ghassan Hage are two prominent examples but there are so many more. The accusations of antisemtism have even extended to Shir Hever, an Israel Jew whose family escaped Nazi Germany.
What’s even more shocking is the confidence with which they do it. The shutting down of free speech, arrests, mistreatment, cancellation, and censorship take place with an air of self-righteousness, under the banner of ‘greater good’. What’s more, Germany is effectively supporting the extreme right wing of Israeli government, perhaps the rough equivalent of AfD or a transmogrified version of it.
So why are Germans genocidal? They are not, or do not think they are. But why do they appear genocidal? Because they are living in a parallel reality based on an invisible theocracy that could collapse when confronted with the truth about Israel’s crimes.
Living in a parallel reality that justifies mass killings, ethnic cleansing and genocide is a situation not too dissimilar from Germany’s past. If there ever were vows never to repeat the mistakes of the past, Germans need to confront the realities of today. This dogmatic creed must be challenged by German society since German government has failed.
To quote Arthur C. Clark, “A faith that cannot survive collision with the truth is not worth many regrets.”
Many Germans reading this may be relieved that a great portion of their society oppose the genocide in their hearts; that somehow they’ve escaped their duty to oppose genocide just by holding a silent opinion. But Germans should be the first to know that silence can often be complicit. To hold an opinion that you dare not utter is not enough to absolve you of collective responsibility that has brought about the death of masses of innocent people.
Arabic translation available here.
Just shows how governments are disconnected from THE PEOPLE! No state should have the right to 'exist', especially if defending its existence means genocide!! But this has been happening since the notion of 'state' was born..what happened to native Americans, Australians and people of the pacific, Armenians and one could even say that about the bashmooreyeen/Copts who were slaughtered in the name of states, relogious or secular, part of the old world or the new..Many states have been founded on the bodies of humans! The German guilt towards the Jewish people is a big part of the problem, as it also imprisons the society in guilt and shame. I would have expected the holocaust to teach us that what is supraconstitutional is indeed the right of ALL people to exist and defend their existence. Dehumanisation is first step to genocide, whether done in a nationslist manner or even through propaganda, the manipulation of the collective conscious and by silencing any truth..so the German government is indeed genocidal and responsible, and it is the duty of the German people to bring their government down/ in check as they no longer represent them or fit to govern a land that has been through a lot of traumas and still managed to build greatness from the rubble. I understand how the German people want to move on from the traumatic past but being silenced by their government as it dehumanises Palestinians, will only end in them becoming dehumanised themselves and dragged back into the conflicted conscious they want to escape and leave behind. There is no way out of this except in!
They committed genocide in Namibia against the indigenous people of that country, in Germany against Jews and Gypsies, and even exterminated people deemed inferior such as homosexuals, mentally ill, and physically deformed people. and now they are complicit in genocide against Palestinians. I'd say the framing of the question is not absurd at all. There is something sinister about the way Germans just obey authorities while justifying standing aside and letting things happen, or even in some cases participating actively like the German police force's over-enthusiastic zeal in dispersing anti-genocide protests.