Germany rebukes Nicaragua's Gaza 'genocide' claims

Nicaragua said it was "extremely urgent" that Germany halt weapons exports to Israel during the first hearing for its "genocide" case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on Monday.

Nicaragua has accused Germany of violating the Genocide Convention and the laws of war due to its support for Israel.

What has been said so far? 

Alain Pellet, a lawyer for Nicaragua, said that Germany needs to halt its weapons exports to Israel because they could be used to commit genocide.

"Germany was and is fully conscious of the risk that the arms it has furnished and continues to furnish to Israel," he said. 

In recent months, Germany has also airdropped humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza. Nicaragua called this move "pathetic."

"It is indeed a pathetic excuse to the Palestinian children, women and men to provide humanitarian aid, including through airdrops, on the one hand and to furnish the military equipment that is used to kill and annihilate them... on the other hand," said Daniel Mueller, a lawyer for Nicaragua.

In his opening remarks on Monday, Nicaragua's ambassador to the Netherlands Carlos Jose Arguello Gomez told the court that "there can be no question that Germany ... was well aware, and is well aware, of at least the serious risk of genocide being committed" in the Gaza Strip.

"Germany is failing to honor its own obligation to prevent genocide or to ensure respect of international humanitarian law," he added. 

German Foreign Ministry spokesperson Sebastian Fischer said on Monday that "Germany has violated neither the Genocide Convention nor international humanitarian law and we will demonstrate this in full before the International Court of Justice."

Germany has rejected the allegations put forward by Nicaragua and is set to present its arguments at the ICJ on Tuesday. 

What is the background of the case?

Germany is a major arms exporter to Israel, having sent €326.5 million ($353.70 million) in military equipment and weapons in 2023, according to Economy Ministry data. It is only second to the US in supplying Israel with arms, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Nicaragua's case builds on an earlier case brought by South Africa that accuses Israel of genocide in its military offensive in Gaza — allegations that Israel has repeatedly denied.

Germany has long been a staunch ally of Israel with its leaders, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz, repeatedly citing Israel's right to exist as Germany's "reason for state."

This has continued in the wake of the October 7 terror attacks by Hamas that killed around 1,200 people.

Israel's subsequent military offensive in Gaza has seen more than 33,000 Palestinians killed, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.

In its earlier submission to the court, Nicaragua argued that by giving Israel political, financial and military support, and by defunding the United Nations aid agency for Palestinians, "Germany is facilitating the commission of genocide and, in any case has failed in its obligation to do everything possible to prevent the commission of genocide."

"Germany's failure is all the more reprehensible with respect to Israel given that Germany has a self-proclaimed privileged relationship with it, which would enable it to usefully influence its conduct," the submission added.

What will the ICJ rule on?

Nicaragua has asked the court to order Germany to stop supplying weapons and other military aid to Israel and to reverse its decision to suspend funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. 

Although the case brought by Nicaragua focuses on Germany, it also indirectly takes aim at Israel's military campaign in Gaza.

During a hearing for the South African case against Israel earlier this year, Israeli legal adviser Tal Becker told judges at the court that the country is fighting a "war it did not start and did not want."

Lawrence Hill-Cawthorne, an associate professor of law at the University of Bristol, told DW that Nicaragua's case against Germany "is not the first state of entity to allege these kinds of violations being committed in Gaza."

Cawthorne added there are "a considerable amount of serious violations of international law being committed in Gaza, and those violations are such that they not only entail the responsibility of Israel, but they can also entail the responsibility of every other state in the world for failing to prevent those violations."

Hill-Cawthorne said that such cases are an example of "public interest litigation" to "protect the "interests of the entire international community."

rm,zc/ab,wmr (Reuters, AFP, AP)