EGN NEWS DESK
Germany on Tuesday defended itself on the International Court of Justice in opposition to accusations that its arms shipments to Israel had been furthering genocide in Gaza, arguing that a lot 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.
At the U.N. court docket in The Hague, attorneys for Germany stated that the allegations introduced by Nicaragua had “no foundation in reality or legislation” and rested on an evaluation of navy conduct by Israel, which isn’t a party to the case.
“Germany firmly rejects Nicaragua’s accusations,” Tania von Uslar-Gleichen, an official at Germany’s Foreign Ministry and lead counsel within the case, advised the 15-judge bench, including that Nicaragua had “rushed this case to court docket on the premise 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 help. The court docket is anticipated to resolve inside weeks whether or not to problem emergency measures.
The proceedings, which concluded Tuesday, had been the third time in current months that the U.N. court docket — normally a sleepy venue for disputes between nations — grew to become a discussion board for nations to place stress on Israel and help 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 stop such atrocities. The court docket has not dominated on whether or not genocide was in reality happening, an allegation that Israel has strongly denied.
The newest case, introduced by a Nicaraguan authorities that itself has been broadly accused of repression and human rights violations, has positioned a highlight on Germany, Israel’s second-largest arms provider after the United States. Germany’s management calls help for Israel a “Staatsräson,” a nationwide purpose for existence, as a approach of atoning for the Holocaust.
But 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.
Lawyers for Germany urged the court docket to throw out the case. They argued that Germany has tried to steadiness the pursuits of each Israel and the Palestinians, and offered figures displaying that Berlin was among the many largest particular person donors to the U.N. and different businesses that present humanitarian assist to Gaza.
“Germany has all the time been a robust supporter of the rights of the Palestinian folks,” Ms. von Uslar-Gleichen stated. “This is, alongside Israel’s safety, the second precept that has guided Germany’s response to the Middle East battle typically, and to its present escalation particularly.”
In 2023, Germany authorised arms exports to Israel valued at 326.5 million euros, or about $353.7 million, in keeping with figures printed by the economics ministry. That is roughly 10 occasions the sum authorised the earlier 12 months.
Germany’s authorized workforce argued on Tuesday that the majority of its exports had been nonlethal help, equivalent to 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 for the reason that Oct. 7 Hamas assault, saying that since then “no artillery shells, no munitions had been licensed.”
“The image offered by Nicaragua is at greatest inaccurate, and at worst it’s a deliberate misrepresentation of the particular scenario,” he stated.
While it was not doable to independently confirm the figures offered by Mr. Tams, they had been roughly according to 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 p.c of its navy exports to Israel had been for what it referred to as “weapons of battle.”
Critics have stated that there’s little distinction between the sorts of weapons supplied to Israel whereas it’s at battle. 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 International Peace Research Institute, which tracks world arms exports, stated the German place is according to typical arms exports to Israel.
“While they don’t do the killing straight, they’re an important a part of the general system, the armed forces of a rustic, which really make it doable to have interaction in warfare,” he stated.
Lawyers say that Germany is a better goal for a go well with than is the United States, by far Israel’s principal navy supporter. Germany has granted full jurisdiction to the International Court of Justice. But the United States denies its jurisdiction, besides in instances the place Washington explicitly offers its consent.
