A Letter From Germany Regarding That Country’s Complicity in the Palestinian Genocide

Hello all, something a bit different today. A good friend of mine lives in Germany, and has spent the last few months having conversations with me about how bad it for the Pro-Palestine movement over there, and the German government’s utterly indefensible complicity in the mass murder of the Palestinian people. Because of the difficulties involved in protesting the genocide within Germany, I asked him would he be willing to write a piece anonymously for my blog. This is the full text of what he wrote:

Dear Colm,

So, you’ve asked me before to write something about the Genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza, and now, with the ceasefire, I have finally got around to it. You voiced some optimism about the ceasefire, and honestly, I wish I could share it with you; however, I feel it is a cynical move to do with Donald Trump’s inauguration. The timing is off to me, and it makes me wonder what he promised Netanyahu and his crew to allow him to say that he brought peace in the run-up to his big day. Looking at the region’s history over the last seventy years, it is clear as day that this will not bring anything lasting to the people there… The fact that they killed around 80 Palestinians the day after announcing the ceasefire agreement demonstrates this clearly.

Switching Off German News

As you know, I live in Germany. Over the last few months, I have honestly stopped watching German news. The way events were reported on it just felt wrong to me. I used to watch the news here daily, but now I cannot remember the last time I watched it. I did see a headline about the recent ceasefire deal, and it essentially said that Israeli hostages were going to be released in exchange for terrorists… that sums up the coverage really well. The Israelis are the defenders of democracy and our allies, and the Palestinians are all Hamas – and Hamas are as bad as the Nazis…

The way the German news reported it made sure we knew all about the Israeli casualties – if one Israeli soldier was killed in action, we would know all about them – but in the following line, the Palestinians would be dismissed as statistics: “80 people died in Gaza today”… no mention of “were killed by Israeli bombings”… they just “died”.

German Government Complicity and Cynicism

I find it hard to take many things here seriously in recent months and years. The Germans at the moment are big into inclusivity – (well, the non-AfD voter types) – but so many never bring up the topic of Gaza and German complicity. Honestly, it has never come up in conversations with German work colleagues, at parties, with neighbours, or with friends. I have only had these discussions with other foreigners here. You see these “inclusivity days” around the place, at schools, at workplaces, on the streets, and unfortunately, the Genocide has made me a bit cynical about these kinds of things…

What angers me most here is that the German government involved here are the Social Democrats and the Green Party… if it was the AfD supporting a Far-Right Israeli government or even the CDU (Angela Merkel’s old party – the next German government will be led by them), I wouldn’t be surprised. The CDU are a typical centre-right party that wants to keep older people on their side and doesn’t have any beliefs… their upcoming government will not bring Germany forward into the 21st century. That it is the Centre-Left (Social Democrats) and Greens who have been backing Israel’s Genocide means I don’t really know who I would vote for here if I could vote…

So, you see these anti-AfD marches around Germany. Anti-fascist movements and demos… you see politicians from some of the parties mentioned earlier giving out about the AfD and the rise of the Far-Right… while supporting Israel… It makes me scratch my head. All you need to do is look around and see who the most prominent supporters of Netanyahu’s government are – Donald Trump, Geert Wilders, Viktor Orban, Georgia Meloni – the list goes on… and think logically… Hey, why are the far-right supporting Israel as well? (See Anthony Löwenstein’s book “The Palestine Laboratory” for more on this topic.)

Yes, Germany has its horrible history with the Jewish people – it is beyond what many of us can even imagine… However, the lesson from history is that Germany should be a force to stop this from happening again anywhere in the world, regardless of where the people come from and what they believe. It should not be Israel = Judaism, and we must protect Judaism/Israel at all costs. Just look at some of the most outspoken critics of Israel, Anthony Löwenstein, Ilan Pappé, Bernie Sanders, Noam Chomsky, etc. – they are Jewish.

In recent years, the German government has been awful. The Greens fight the Liberals, the Liberals block the Greens, the Social Democrats do nothing, and Olaf Scholz does a great impression of “The Invisible Man”… The only thing they seem to come together with and agree on is the full-throated backing of Israel. Occasionally, Annalena Baerbock, as foreign minister, might wave her finger at the Israeli government for bombing and killing a whole bunch of children at a designated safe zone… but in reality, nothing happens. Actually, that’s not true… Instead, what happens is the German police go out and arrest a bunch of students in different cities for protesting against Genocide.

Protesting the Genocide in Germany

Back in early 2024, there were ridiculous scenes of the German police going to close down a talk about Palestine in the middle of Berlin. There was a speaker who was going to talk via Skype who shouldn’t have been allowed to speak… Salman Abu Sitta, who had expressed some understanding for the Hamas militants who carried out the October 7th attacks… They also banned Yanis Varoufakis and the British-Palestinian surgeon Ghassan Abu Sitta… People who might have allowed for an uncomfortable debate on German complicity in what was happening. Debates can be good for democracies when they are not promoting hatred.

The scenes of quite literally hundreds of heavily armed German Polizei breaking up this conference and marching everyone through the building were utterly ridiculous. Actual terrorist attacks have happened in Germany in recent years, and police resources are wasted on breaking up such talks… It is simply ludicrous… Actual crimes take place in Berlin and other cities, and the Polizei are shutting down dissenting voices… It is insane.

So, when I am back home in Ireland, I can go to a protest without any issues. You are allowed to protest in Ireland without the fear that the police will beat you up, break up the protest, call you an “Anti-Semite”, and then put a permanent mark against your name… Germany is seeking to embrace a definition of “Anti-Semitism” that would link criticism of Israel to anti-Semitism… and Anti-Semitism can then be a way to prevent you from acquiring German citizenship. So, if you criticise Israel, you might not be allowed to get German citizenship… How insane is that? At the moment, I could apply for German citizenship, but honestly, I have never felt further away from the desire for it.

Is my support for the Palestinian cause weak because of not going to the protests here… Maybe I should give my voice openly, but I also have a young family here, and I don’t want to risk my and my kids’ futures in this way. Also, another point here: As I said, I am not German. I protest in Ireland because I am Irish, and I believe firmly that Ireland, and especially the Irish government, should use its experience and history to promote the Palestinian cause. As a former colonised people – and one who has ended up doing pretty well overall in 2024 – this should be our duty. Although I have lived here in Germany for several years, I am not German, and my anger and incredulity at the German government is coming from the perspective of an outsider… Maybe it is weak reasoning – but culturally and socially, something within me says – this fight is not up to me to change. I know, Colm, it is a bit weak to say this to some degree.

It should be up to the German people to protest this… and many do. I have met many young students, especially those who have camped out, been arrested, taken risks, and seen beyond the “official” line on this matter. They do not equate Germany’s support for Israel’s actions as somehow making up for the Holocaust (the most bizarre logic I have ever come across), and who are out protesting. There are many Germans – in my experience, young Germans – who see that the Holocaust reasoning is not logical… “Never Again” should apply to everyone.

The difference in the videos online from protests in Ireland compared to those in Germany is night and day. The German protests are blocked by the police, often attacked, heavily guarded by armed police, while in Ireland – the same anger is there – but the protestors are not treated as subhuman criminals… People can voice their anger, they can go to the streets, they can show solidarity with Palestinians without being called Anti-Semites. However, Germany is an old country with an old demographic… the political parties are more frightened of the grey vote than the students. On Gaza (like in so many areas), these parties are ready to let down the young people to appeal to those more likely to get their news from the news sources and stations mentioned above. Of course, not all the grey vote falls for this, but they do seem to be less angered by it and more in favour of Israel generally…

The Ceasefire and the Future

Anthony Blinken admitted recently in a press conference that there are as many Hamas fighters in Gaza – if not more – now than there were at the start of the campaign (see: Genocide), and this was obviously going to happen from Day 1. I am no military strategist, I am not a political expert, I do not have particular insights in this field, but I have read history. History is a good indicator in such instances… They said that “Bloody Sunday” in the North was one of the biggest recruiters for the IRA there and sustained their campaign for years… what has been happening in Gaza over the last year has been multitudes worse than that.

There was a story at one point about a young father in Gaza going to get his children – his newborn twins – registered. He went to one of the few working locations – maybe it was a hospital (even though the Israelis have destroyed all of them) – to get the job done… he came back to find his children and partner dead and his home destroyed. Those twins were four days old… I’m sure Israel saw them as Hamas fighters… Now, as a father – if that had happened to me, I don’t think I would be too happy with Israel, and who knows what I would do…

That is just one story. There are thousands/millions of such stories in Gaza. There are the daily humiliations that the Palestinians in the West Bank have to deal with… there are the Palestinian refugees across the Middle East whose right to return is not respected… Perpetual humiliation, perpetual suffering and discrimination are not the ways to build lasting peace. There might be a ceasefire in Gaza today (who knows if it will still be in place when I finish writing this), but there won’t be long-term peace as long as the current conditions exist. I am convinced that Israel will put out the message soon that Hamas somehow “broke the agreement” or some other vague reasoning and will continue their campaign momentarily…

The fight for freedom is an idea, and it lives within people. The ways to ultimately defeat a group like Hamas is to either wipe out the Palestinian people completely (the extremist route) … or to treat the Palestinians like actual humans with a right to self-determination and freedom. When the Israelis went in all guns blazing and went to reduce Gaza to rubble, blew up schools and hospitals, shot children in the head, and carried out all kinds of atrocities and genocidal actions, it should have been evident from the start what they were doing. Such actions should have been properly condemned, and the global community should have said, now is the time to do something here.

“Genocide Joe” Biden recently put out a clip of himself saying that he knew what Benjamin Netanyahu was planning… and he told “Bibi” that he can’t go in and wipe out whole streets to get at some alleged Hamas fighters… “Bibi” did it anyway while being fully backed by the US throughout. The US – under Genocide Joe – supported them all the way with weapons and diplomatic support… they even condemned the ICC (International Criminal Court) for saying what is obvious – that Israel has likely committed war crimes in Gaza (obviously… even if 1% of what I’ve heard about their activities in Gaza are accurate then it is obvious that they have committed horrendous crimes). I don’t know why Biden put this out to the world – it shows that he knew what Netanyahu was up to and armed him anyway. It shows that he may have been incredibly weak and had no control over his ally… Honestly, Biden should have been more honest with us and just said that he doesn’t believe that Palestinian life is equal to Israeli and that Israel, as an ally of the US, can do what it wants. I wouldn’t have any more respect for him – he is a monster – but at least it would be honest.  The mind boggles as to why he portrayed such weakness in that interview – weakness or monster, your choice, Genocide Joe.

Anyway, the current ceasefire agreement was according to some reports available from the start… Stay out of Gaza, and we’ll do a hostage swap deal. Instead, they destroyed Gaza, ruined the lives of the population, ensured that Hamas (or whatever the next group of Palestinian fighters will be called) will have several generations of recruits, killed tens of thousands (if not more into the six figures between starvation, those they’ve prevented from getting proper medical attention, those left dead under the rubble, and those they’ve bombed, shot, burnt alive etc.). We still ended up with a hostage deal that was likely available on Day 1. This could all have been predicted on Day 1 of the Genocide.

A Transformative Experience

I am not going to lie with you, Colm; it is all pretty bleak. Watching the world’s first live-streamed Genocide live on YouTube and social media has been a bleak experience, to say the least. I am not sure how to process it. It has ruined any meaning in words such as “international law”, “human rights”, “the post-war order,” and in concepts such as there being something more out there than “might is right”. Israel has shown that mere words do not mean anything – even if they come from the UN, the ICJ, the ICC, Amnesty International and all these other groups… and this is bleak. This paints a picture of a world perfectly for a Donald Trump to come in and say and do outrageous things, such as those about Canada, Greenland and Panama… Israel has already shown that words of condemnation do not mean anything in the 21st century.

 Again, if it was parties like Donald Trump’s Republicans, Friedrich Merz’s CDU or the AfD, and other such far-right groups in power during the unfolding Genocide, it wouldn’t be a surprise… again, just read a history book to learn about the far-right… However, the fact that in so many of these countries, the people in charge were those opposing the far-right – supposedly on the other side – is what makes me despair a bit. Keir Starmer – supposedly Labour – fully supports them and does very little to move the dial… It just makes me wonder.

I think back to the American elections last year… Joe Biden/Kamala Harris v Donald Trump… Obviously, if I was an American, I wouldn’t have voted for Trump – but I wouldn’t have supported the other side either… You mentioned, Colm, that the Genocide has changed you, and yeah, I can agree with you there. I believe Genocide is the worst crime that can be committed by humanity, and the fact that so many of us out there – including myself here beyond following BDS and donating to charity causes linked to it – sat back, did nothing and left it to happen… encouraged and backed it in many cases… that the (supposed) anti-far-right side went out of their way to support it…

Anyway, Colm, here is my letter from Germany.

History will judge this period badly.

Unless the far-right gets in everywhere, and then sure, they will just make up history to suit themselves!