Germany Defends Its Support for Israel Amid Genocide Claims at The Hague
The United Nations’ highest court opened preliminary hearings on Monday in a case seeking to end German military and other aid to Israel.
The International Court of Justice case centers on claims made by Nicaragua that Berlin’s material support for Israel is supplementing acts of genocide and overt breaches of international law within the Gaza war.
“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,” Nicaragua’s diplomatic and legal team asserts.
As part of Monday’s opening remarks, Carlos José Argüello Gómez, Nicaragua’s ambassador to the Netherlands, was quoted arguing to the court that “Germany is failing to honor its own obligation to prevent genocide or to ensure respect of international humanitarian law.”
Both Israel and Germany have rejected the premise and arguments of the case, with Israel staunchly denying that its military actions over the last six months of war against Hamas constitute genocidal acts.
Germany is historically one of Israel’s most fiercely supportive allies, and on Friday, along with the United States, it opposed a resolution by the UN Human Rights Council to end further arms sales to Israel.
Commenting on Nicaragua’s allegations on Friday, German Foreign Ministry spokesperson Sebastian Fischer told reporters, “Germany has breached neither the Genocide Convention nor international humanitarian law, and we will set this out in detail before the International Court of Justice.”
