Dear Highly Distinguished Judges of the Chambers of the International Court of Justice,

We, the German people, signing this open letter wish to express great concern about our government's decision to intervene as a third party in South Africa's case against Israel.

We are shocked to see our government ignoring and rejecting the evidence of potential genocide despite the atrocities committed by Israeli forces as documented and referred by South Africa and international humanitarian organizations.

While Germany stated in its intervention in the case against Myanmar in November 2023 that it felt “...a special responsibility to contribute to the fight against and the prevention and investigation of any potential genocide and to send a message that states will be held accountable for all acts of genocide. Genocide concerns us all, wherever in the world it occurs.”, today our government rushes to deny the possibility that crimes committed by the state of Israel could be violating the International Convention against Genocide.

We are worried about the contradiction in positions regarding these two different cases of genocide. The double standard interpretation shown by the leaders of our country - that itself has been committing genocide several times throughout human history - lacks serious responsibility over the quote “Never again”.

The way Germany expresses its support of Israel evokes the conclusion that it is acting merely out of political and economical interests blatantly ignoring international law.

We, the German people signing this letter, feel the moral obligation to state publicly that German authorities are acting not in our name. We support South Africa in its defense of Palestinian rights to land and freedom. And we respectfully ask the court to decide impartially with no political interference.

Yours sincerely,