Germany on Tuesday defended itself on the Worldwide Courtroom of Justice towards accusations that its arms shipments to Israel had been furthering genocide in Gaza, arguing that a lot of the gear it has provided since Oct. 7 was nonlethal and that it has additionally been one of many largest donors of humanitarian support to the Palestinians.
On the U.N. courtroom 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 celebration to the case.
“Germany firmly rejects Nicaragua’s accusations,” Tania von Uslar-Gleichen, an official at Germany’s International Ministry and lead counsel within the case, informed the 15-judge bench, including that Nicaragua had “rushed this case to courtroom on the idea of flimsiest proof.”
On Monday, Nicaragua had argued that Germany was facilitating the fee of genocide towards Palestinians in Gaza by offering Israel with navy and monetary support, and it requested for emergency measures ordering the German authorities to halt its assist. The courtroom is predicted to determine inside weeks whether or not to subject emergency measures.
The proceedings, which concluded Tuesday, had been the third time in current months that the U.N. courtroom grew to become a discussion board for nations to place strain on Israel and assist Palestinians.
Earlier this 12 months, the courtroom 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 courtroom has not dominated on whether or not genocide was in reality happening, an allegation that Israel has strongly denied.
The most recent 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 USA. Germany’s management calls assist for Israel a “Staatsräson,” a nationwide cause for existence, as a manner of atoning for the Holocaust.
However the mounting dying 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 courtroom 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 support to Gaza.
“Germany has at all times been a robust supporter of the rights of the Palestinian folks,” 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 permitted arms exports to Israel valued at 326.5 million euros, or about $353.7 million, in accordance with figures printed by the economics ministry. That’s roughly 10 occasions the sum permitted the earlier 12 months.
Germany’s authorized group argued on Tuesday that almost all of its exports had been nonlethal assist, equivalent to protecting gear, communications gear and protection gear towards 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 introduced by Nicaragua is at finest inaccurate, and at worst it’s a deliberate misrepresentation of the particular scenario,” 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 p.c of its navy exports to Israel had been for what it known as “weapons of warfare.”
Critics have stated that there’s little distinction between the forms of weapons supplied to Israel whereas it’s at warfare. On Monday, Carlos Jose Arguello Gomez, Nicaragua’s ambassador to the Netherlands, informed the courtroom 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 world arms exports, stated the German place is in step with typical arms exports to Israel.
“Whereas they don’t do the killing straight, they’re a necessary a part of the general system, the armed forces of a rustic, which really make it attainable to have interaction in warfare,” he stated.
Legal professionals say that Germany is a neater goal for a go well with than is the USA, by far Israel’s essential navy supporter. Germany has granted full jurisdiction to the Worldwide Courtroom of Justice. However the USA denies its jurisdiction, besides in instances the place Washington explicitly provides its consent.
