Nicaragua has urged the International Court of Justice to intervene and suspend Germany’s arms exports to Israel in a groundbreaking legal battle.
Germany stands accused of flouting the UN genocide convention by dispatching military hardware to Israel while halting contributions to the funding of the UN’s humanitarian aid body.
Berlin has dismissed the allegations and is set to offer a rebuttal to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) during Tuesday’s proceedings.
Germany accounted for around 30% of Israel’s military procurement in 2023, with a total expenditure of €300 million ($326 million; £257 million).
The allegations stem from a separate case initiated by South Africa in January, during which judges in The Hague instructed Israel to take “all possible measures” to prevent genocidal actions. Additionally, the court mandated Hamas to promptly release all hostages taken from Israel during its attacks on October 7.
Israel rejects accusations that it is engaging in genocidal acts in its campaign in Gaza, and has insisted it has the right to defend itself.
Over 33,000 people have perished in Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, as reported by the health ministry under Hamas control, with the majority of casualties being innocent civilians.
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has intensified to the point where Oxfam has sounded the alarm of an impending famine, underscoring the plight of some 300,000 individuals in the northern region who have been surviving on a meager daily intake of 245 calories since January.
Nicaragua contends that Germany’s arms exports to Israel, amounting to $326.5 million last year—a tenfold surge compared to 2022—implicate it in Israel’s purported war crimes.
According to the DPA news agency, sales were predominantly driven by components for air defense systems and communication equipment.
Among the leading suppliers of arms to Israel, Germany prominently features on the chart. Furthermore, Germany joined 14 other Western nations in suspending funding for the UN’s Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) due to allegations of involvement by some of the agency’s staff in the October 7 attacks on Israel.
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Nicaragua has submitted documents to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) requesting that the court instruct Berlin to cease weapons sales and reinstate funding for the aid agency. This agency remains one of the few international organizations still providing assistance in Gaza.
It says in the absence of such measures, “Germany is facilitating the commission of genocide and is failing in its obligation to do everything possible to prevent the commission of genocide”.
Speaking as the trial opened, Alain Pellet, a lawyer for Nicaragua, said it was “urgent that Germany suspend continued sales.
“Germany was and is fully conscious of the risk that the arms it has furnished and continues to furnish to Israel,” he told judges.
Berlin has rejected the allegations, but has remained tight-lipped about its legal strategy ahead of the hearings.
“We note Nicaragua’s lawsuit and we deny the allegations as unjustified”, government spokesman Wolfgang Buechner said.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been a vocal supporter of Israel’s right to self-defence, but he has faced increasing domestic hostility to the continuation of arms sales to the country.
On Sunday, a group of civil servants wrote to the German leader calling on the government to “cease arm deliveries to the Israeli government with immediate effect”.
“Israel is committing crimes in Gaza that are in clear contradiction to international law and thus to the Constitution, which we are bound to as federal civil servants and public employees,” the statement said, citing January’s ICJ ruling.
In January’s case, the ICJ ruled that “at least some of the acts and omissions alleged by South Africa to have been committed by Israel in Gaza appear to be capable of falling within the provisions of the Convention”.