Germany on Tuesday defended itself on the Worldwide Court docket of Justice in opposition to accusations that its arms shipments to Israel had been furthering genocide in Gaza, arguing that many of the tools it has provided since Oct. 7 was nonlethal and that it has additionally been one of many largest donors of humanitarian assist to the Palestinians.
On the U.N. court docket in The Hague, attorneys for Germany stated that the allegations introduced by Nicaragua had “no foundation actually or legislation” and rested on an evaluation of navy conduct by Israel, which isn’t a celebration to the case.
“Germany firmly rejects Nicaragua’s accusations,” Tania von Uslar-Gleichen, an official at Germany’s Overseas Ministry and lead counsel within the case, advised the 15-judge bench, including that Nicaragua had “rushed this case to court docket on the idea of flimsiest proof.”
On Monday, Nicaragua had argued that Germany was facilitating the fee of genocide in opposition to Palestinians in Gaza by offering Israel with navy and monetary assist, and it requested for emergency measures ordering the German authorities to halt its assist. The court docket is predicted to resolve inside weeks whether or not to concern emergency measures.
The proceedings, which concluded Tuesday, had been the third time in current months that the U.N. court docket turned a discussion board for nations to place strain on Israel and assist Palestinians.
Earlier this 12 months, the court docket heard arguments by South Africa that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza and ordered the Israeli authorities to take steps to forestall such atrocities. The court docket has not dominated on whether or not genocide was actually going down, an allegation that Israel has strongly denied.
The newest case, introduced by a Nicaraguan authorities that itself has been extensively accused of repression and human rights violations, has positioned a highlight on Germany, Israel’s second-largest arms provider after the USA. Germany’s management calls assist for Israel a “Staatsräson,” a nationwide cause for existence, as a means of atoning for the Holocaust.
However the mounting demise toll and humanitarian disaster in Gaza have led some German officers to ask whether or not that backing has gone too far.
Legal professionals for Germany urged the court docket to throw out the case. They argued that Germany has tried to stability the pursuits of each Israel and the Palestinians, and introduced figures exhibiting that Berlin was among the many largest particular person donors to the U.N. and different companies that present humanitarian assist to Gaza.
“Germany has all the time been a robust supporter of the rights of the Palestinian individuals,” Ms. von Uslar-Gleichen stated. “That is, alongside Israel’s safety, the second precept that has guided Germany’s response to the Center East battle usually, and to its present escalation specifically.”
In 2023, Germany accepted arms exports to Israel valued at 326.5 million euros, or about $353.7 million, in response to figures revealed by the economics ministry. That’s roughly 10 occasions the sum accepted the earlier 12 months.
Germany’s authorized workforce argued on Tuesday that the majority of its exports had been nonlethal assist, resembling protecting gear, communications tools and protection tools in opposition to chemical hazards. Christian Tams, a lawyer for Germany, denied Nicaragua’s claims that Germany had elevated weapons provides to Israel because the Oct. 7 Hamas assault, saying that since then “no artillery shells, no munitions had been licensed.”
“The image introduced by Nicaragua is at greatest inaccurate, and at worst it’s a deliberate misrepresentation of the particular state of affairs,” he stated.
Whereas it was not attainable to independently confirm the figures introduced by Mr. Tams, they had been roughly in step with these supplied earlier this 12 months by the German authorities, in response to a query from a lawmaker, when it stated that solely about 6 % of its navy exports to Israel had been for what it known as “weapons of struggle.”
Critics have stated that there’s little distinction between the forms of weapons supplied to Israel whereas it’s at struggle. On Monday, Carlos Jose Arguello Gomez, Nicaragua’s ambassador to the Netherlands, advised the court docket that “it doesn’t matter if an artillery shell is delivered straight from Germany to an Israeli tank shelling a hospital” or goes to replenish Israel’s stockpiles.
Pieter D. Wezeman, a senior researcher on the Stockholm Worldwide Peace Analysis Institute, which tracks international arms exports, stated the German place is in step with typical arms exports to Israel.
“Whereas they don’t do the killing instantly, they’re a vital a part of the general system, the armed forces of a rustic, which truly make it attainable to have interaction in warfare,” he stated.
Legal professionals say that Germany is a better goal for a go well with than is the USA, by far Israel’s most important navy supporter. Germany has granted full jurisdiction to the Worldwide Court docket of Justice. However the USA denies its jurisdiction, besides in instances the place Washington explicitly provides its consent.
