The prime minister of Samoa, a remote island nation in the heart of the Pacific Ocean, was forced to apologize Monday over a 19-year-old video showing him shouting “Heil Hitler” and giving a Nazi salute during a family gathering. The embarrassing footage of Prime Minister La’auli Leuatea Schmidt is particularly striking given that he and his country are regarded as staunch supporters of Israel.
The Samoa Observer revealed Sunday the existence and contents of the seven-second video, which reports said was filmed at a Schmidt family gathering in Samoa in July 2007. A screenshot from the video shows Schmidt holding a microphone in one hand while raising the other, surrounded by others making the same gesture. The newspaper reported that Schmidt can be heard saying into the microphone: “Raise your right hand, Heil Hitler!”
Schmidt, who served as deputy speaker of Samoa’s parliament in 2007 and has led the island nation since his election victory in August 2025, did not deny the report. In a statement posted on social media Monday, he said: “I acknowledge that these words and the gesture were inappropriate and could have caused hurt and offense, and I apologize for using them.”
He added that the video was filmed “at a private family gathering — not intended for public viewing.” In the statement, he stressed that his conduct in the video did not reflect his personal beliefs or the views of the Samoan government or people, and said he rejected “Nazism, antisemitism, racism and every form of political extremism.”
The 2007 footage: The future prime minister salutes with a raised hand and chants 'Heil Hitler'
According to the newspaper, it is not known what happened immediately before or after the clip, and Schmidt’s statement offered no further explanation.
The controversy erupted as news organizations across the Pacific region have condemned Schmidt’s continuing treatment of the Observer. The newspaper has been barred since November from covering news conferences and government events involving Schmidt and other officials after the prime minister accused it of misleading coverage.
Schmidt wears a Jewish prayer shawl at his inauguration
(Photo: From Facebook)
On Friday, Schmidt confirmed allegations that photographs of him taken by an Observer reporter outside government buildings during an official event had been deleted from the reporter’s camera by an aide. He defended the move, arguing that the Observer, Samoa’s largest media group, had violated the ban imposed on it.
The Observer called Schmidt’s boycott “an authoritarian act,” while news organizations across the region have urged the prime minister to reverse course. The Journalists Association of Samoa said it was “deeply concerned” by the incident involving the deletion of the photographs.
Like several other leaders of small South Pacific island nations, Schmidt has previously voiced strong support for Israel. Since September 2023, three Pacific island nations, including Samoa, have been among the handful of countries to follow the United States in opening embassies in Jerusalem rather than Tel Aviv. Analysts attribute the support Israel enjoys in the region to deeply rooted Christian traditions woven into public life.
When Schmidt was sworn into office in September 2025, he even wore a Jewish prayer shawl during a ceremony that also included the blowing of a shofar. “Samoa will not retreat from its support for Israel as the nation of God’s people,” he told reporters after the event, according to local media reports.
Samoa is a tiny nation of about 220,000 people, located near Fiji and west of American Samoa, a U.S. territory in the eastern part of the Samoan island chain.
In the early 20th century, Samoa was under German rule and was a German colony, which is why many residents have German ancestry and German surnames. In 1914, New Zealand seized what was then known as Western Samoa from Germany and retained control until 1962, when the country gained independence.