NICARAGUA asked the UN high court (ICJ) to stop German military aid to Israel. The reason is that Berlin’s support for Tel Aviv allows acts of genocide and violations of international humanitarian law to occur in the Gaza Strip.
Germany is the second largest arms supplier to Israel after the United States (US). The Israeli military invasion of the Gaza Strip has been going on for 6 months and has left tens of thousands of people dead.
Nicaragua’s charges are the latest legal effort by a country with historic ties to the Palestinian people to stop Israeli attacks. Previously, South Africa accused Israel of committing genocide in the same court, late last year.
It also comes amid increasing calls for Israel’s allies to stop supplying the country with weapons and as some of its allies, including Germany, have become increasingly critical of the invasion.
Nicaragua’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Carlos Jose Arguello Gomez, told the 16-judge panel that Germany failed to fulfill its own obligations to prevent genocide or ensure respect for international humanitarian law.
Germany will present its arguments, Tuesday (9/4). The head of the German legal team, Tania von Uslar-Gleichen, called Nicaragua’s accusations highly biased and denied that Berlin had violated international law.
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Israel firmly denies its attacks constitute an act of genocide and says it was carried out in self-defense after Hamas invaded southern Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people.
Israel’s legal adviser, Tal Becker, told judges at the ICJ earlier this year in a case filed by South Africa that Israel was fighting an unwanted war.
Since then, more than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip, according to the territory’s Ministry of Health. The casualty figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but it is said that women and children made up the majority of those killed.
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The ICJ will likely take weeks to deliver its initial decision, and the Nicaragua case will likely drag on for years.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Germany is the second country after the US to supply weapons to Israel. Meanwhile, no one has dared to sue the US to the ICJ because Washington does not recognize the authority of the ICJ.
The US has also not signed a protocol to the Genocide Convention that allows countries to take disputes to court. However, Nicaragua alluded to US arms supplies in its lawsuit.
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Managua assesses that Berlin and Washington are collaborating on several Israeli military programs. Arguello Gomez urged the ICJ to include US supplies in its initial order, known as a provisional measure.
Nicaragua has asked the court to order Germany to immediately suspend its aid to Israel. In particular, military assistance includes military equipment as long as such assistance can be used to violate the Genocide Convention and international law.
They also want the UN court to order Germany to continue funding UN aid agencies in Gaza in addition to the assistance already provided by Berlin.
“It is a sad excuse for Palestinian children, women and men in the Gaza Strip to provide humanitarian aid, including through airdrops, on the one hand, and to provide weapons and military equipment used to kill and exterminate them and humanitarian reasons ,” said Nicaraguan lawyer Daniel Mueller to ICJ judges, Monday (8/4).
Dozens of flag-waving pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated outside the court in support of Nicaragua.
Sliman Abu Amara, a Dutch citizen of Palestinian descent, said he was grateful to Nicaragua for taking Germany to court.
He noted the irony of Germany being behind all international conventions on preventing genocide. However, on the other hand, it supports Israel in carrying out genocide in the Gaza Strip.
Last week, the UN human rights body called on countries to stop selling or sending weapons to Israel. The US and Germany opposed the resolution.
Meanwhile, hundreds of British legal experts, including three retired Supreme Court judges, have called on their government to suspend arms sales to Israel after seven aid workers from the charity World Central Kitchen, including three British citizens, were killed in an Israeli attack.
Israel said the attack was a mistake and dismissed two of its soldiers for being negligent. Germany has for decades been a staunch supporter of Israel.
Days after the Hamas attack on October 7, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz explained “Our own history, our responsibilities arising from the Holocaust, make it our constant duty to defend the security of the state of Israel.”
However, Berlin gradually changed its stance as the number of civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip soared, becoming increasingly critical of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and opposing a ground offensive on Rafah.
The Nicaraguan government, which has historical ties with Palestinian organizations since it supported the Sandinista revolution in 1979, was also accused earlier this year by UN-backed human rights experts of systematic human rights violations amounting to crimes against humanity.
President Daniel Ortega’s government vehemently rejects the accusations. Responding to the case filed by South Africa, the ICJ ordered Israel in January to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and acts of genocide in Gaza.
In March, the court ordered Israel to take action to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where experts say famine is imminent. (France24/Z-1)
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