Germany has rejected in The Hague before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the highest court of the UN, the Nicaraguan accusation of complicity in genocide in Gaza for selling weapons to Israel. Nicaragua sued Germany for the court to impose emergency measures to prevent Berlin from supplying arms and any other type of support to Israel, arguing that “by sending military equipment (…), Germany facilitates the commission of genocide”, according to demand.
Tania von Uslar-Gleichen, legal adviser to the German Foreign Ministry, told the ICJ judges yesterday that “Germany firmly rejects Nicaragua’s accusations; they have no basis in fact or in law”. Arms exports were scrutinized to ensure compliance with international law, he said.
Germany has been one of Israel’s staunchest allies since the October 7 Hamas terror attack and subsequent Israeli offensive against Gaza, which has claimed thousands of Palestinian lives, most of them civilians. According to figures from the German Ministry of Economy, Berlin sent to Israel in 2023 weapons and war material worth 326.5 million euros, ten times more than the previous year, when it amounted to about 32 million euros.
“Germany is doing everything possible to fulfill its responsibility to the Israeli and Palestinian people,” said Tania von Uslar-Gleichen, emphasizing that Germany is the single largest donor of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.
Nicaragua does not see it that way, and in the 43-page document it claims that Germany is violating the Genocide Convention, approved by the United Nations in 1948 and motivated by the Holocaust. Nicaragua’s lawyer, Alain Pellet, told the court in The Hague on Monday that “Germany was and is fully aware of the risk that the weapons it delivered and continues to deliver to Israel” contribute to committing genocide, so ” it is extremely urgent that Germany suspend” this supply while the court assesses the case. The Court is expected to issue interim measures within a few weeks, but a final decision could take years. Although judgments are supposed to be legally binding, the court has no way to enforce them.
Tania von Uslar-Gleichen yesterday defended the reasons for German support for Israel. “Our history is the reason why Israel’s security is at the center of German foreign policy,” he said, referring to the Nazi annihilation of Jews in the Holocaust. “Germany has learned from its past, a past that includes responsibility for one of the most horrific crimes in the history of humanity, the Holocaust,” he said.
This is the second genocide case before the ICJ related to the Gaza war. In January, South Africa accused Israel of genocide against the Palestinian people and demanded a ceasefire. The UN court did not uphold the claim, but it did order Israel to allow more humanitarian aid and do everything possible to prevent acts of genocide. Recently the ICJ has raised the tone and demanded that Israel expand access to humanitarian aid.
Gaza has been the scene of a devastating war between Israel and Hamas since October 7, 2023. The attack by Hamas that day ended with the death of 1,170 Israelis, most of them civilians, and the kidnapping of more than 250 people , 129 of whom remain detained in Gaza and 34 have died, according to the official Israeli count. The Israeli military response has left 33,207 dead, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry.
