Europe

Nicaragua appeals to UN’s top court to order suspension of German arms exports to Israel

Nicaragua claims Germany is in breach of 1948 Genocide Convention by continuing weapons shipments even after International Court of Justice warned genocide was a ‘plausible’ concern

Nicaragua's ambassador to the Netherlands, Carlos Arguello Gomez, at the International Court of Justice. Photograph: Robin Van Lonkhuijsen/AFP via Getty Images

Peter Cluskey in The Hague
Mon Apr 8 2024 - 10:25

Nicaragua has appealed to the UN’s top court to help end “the hell of Gaza” by ordering the suspension of German arms exports to Israel and the reversal of Berlin’s decision to stop funding the refugee agency Unrwa, described as a last lifeline to a Palestinian population “starving to death”.

Opening its case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Nicaragua’s representative Carlos Arguello Gomez said Germany was in clear breach of the 1948 Genocide Convention by continuing weapons shipments even after the court warned in January that genocide was a “plausible” concern.

Germany was now “facilitating genocide” by Israel, he said. “There should have been no possibility that Germany could ignore that warning, or others from the UN secretary general, but it has ignored all of them and has made the daily nightmare in Gaza worse by supplying more weapons of war.”

Israel has consistently denied that its offensive in Gaza, which has left more than 33,000 Palestinians dead according to the Hamas-run health ministry there, has “genocidal intent”, saying it is motivated only by the imperative to ensure that Hamas militants cannot repeat their assault of October 7th, in which 1,200 Israelis died, according to Israel.

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“These momentous events are leading to the destruction of an entire people,” said Mr Gomez. “They are happening in public, in front of media from all over the world. Even so Germany is ignoring its obligation to help end grievous breaches of international law. This has got to stop.”

Last year Germany exported weapons and parts worth €326.5 million to Israel, a ten-fold increase on 2022, comprising 28 per cent of Israel’s total military imports.

“Germany cannot but be aware that the arms and munitions it supplies to Israel are supporting attacks in Gaza, even if they’re not being immediately used for that purpose,” said Mr Gomez, who is Nicaragua’s ambassador to the Netherlands.

“It doesn’t matter whether an artillery shell is delivered straight from Germany to a tank shelling a hospital or whether it goes to replenish Israel’s stockpile. The fact is that security of supply is crucial to Israel’s prosecution of its campaign in Gaza.”

Another member of Nicaragua’s team, Prof Alain Pellet, described Germany’s arguments about how its supplies were deployed as “Pontius Pilate-like”. Indeed when it came to Germany’s booming arms sales to Israel it was not just “business as usual”, Prof Pellet said, it was “business better than usual”.

Nicaragua wants the ICJ to order emergency measures obliging Berlin to halt its military aid to Israel and to reverse its decision to stop funding Unrwa, a decision taken after Israeli claims in January that 12 Unrwa employees may have been involved in the October 7th attacks.

A third member of Nicaragua’s team, Dr Daniel Muller, said German officials fully recognised Unrwa’s importance as “the single most effective partner for providing assistance to Gaza”.

A German government spokesman said Nicaragua’s claims were “unjustified”, and would be rebutted in detail by its legal team on Tuesday.

Peter Cluskey

Peter Cluskey

Peter Cluskey is a journalist and broadcaster based in The Hague, where he covers Dutch news and politics plus the work of organisations such as the International Criminal Court

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