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ICJ case has German media doing rhetorical cartwheels while support for Israel wobbles

Media outlets in Germany are glossing over the proceedings in The Hague, where Nicaragua accuses Berlin of being complicit in genocide

Germany's director general of legal affairs Tania von Uslar-Gleichen speaks to journalists at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Photograph: Robin Van Lonkhuijsen/AFP via Getty Images
Germany's director general of legal affairs Tania von Uslar-Gleichen speaks to journalists at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Photograph: Robin Van Lonkhuijsen/AFP via Getty Images
Derek Scally's picture
Derek Scally Berlin Correspondent
Wed Apr 10 2024 - 20:54

The easiest way to unsettle Germans these days is to ask them what they understand by “nie wieder” – never again.

Over the last decades, those two words have served as elegant shorthand for German memory politics on the Holocaust. But is the understanding, and promise, behind “nie weder” that mass murder of Jews must never happen again? Or is “nie wieder” a solemn vow by Germans not to carry out, or permit, the mass killing of any group of people, simply for belonging to that group?

After the October 7th Hamas-led attack on Israel, the phrase was updated to “nie wieder ist jetzt” – never again is now. Amid growing concern over Israel’s response in Gaza, the nebulous “nie wieder” hung over Germany’s response to Nicaragua’s complaint at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that, as a big supplier of arms to Israel, Berlin is complicit in genocide.

Germany denies this, pointing out that genocide has yet to be proven and that, even as Israel’s second-largest arms supplier, it examines all deliveries closely and has been reducing deliveries in recent months amid growing concerns over the Gaza offensive.

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But the “nie wieder” dilemma is not going away from the German debate over whether Israel’s end – to eliminate Hamas once and for all – justifies all means.

As German politicians perform a drastic pivot away from last October’s unequivocal support for Israel, the “nie wieder” dilemma lingers in the public debate and media coverage.

Germany’s Bild tabloid carried nothing at all in its print or online editions on the ICJ hearings in The Hague. A week ago it reported that Nicaragua’s “crazy dictator” was “suing Germany”, without exploring the filing’s arguments.

As with other titles in the Springer media group, Bild journalists sign up to its five-point editorial statute which, in point two, states: “We support the Jewish people and the right to exist of the state of Israel.”

Bild’s support for Israel has been vocal and strident since October 7th, and the word “Jew-hater” has appeared in 46 articles. It used that term to describe some participants at illegal pro-Palestinian marches – at one a marcher wished for Hitler’s return to “gas the Jews” – and university discussion participants who accused Israel of genocide, apartheid and “permanent breaches of law”.

Die Welt, another Springer title, has published a picture and short profile of an Israeli hostage daily since October. Its Wednesday edition carried nothing on the ICJ hearings. Its Tuesday edition carried a 100-word brief that Germany rejected the claims of the “authoritarian-ruled Nicaragua”.

Editors of Bild and Welt were not available for comment.

[ Germany denies complicity in Gaza genocide at UN court ]

Unlike these newspapers, the centre-left Süddeutsche Zeitung has printed images of skeletal Gazan children and, this week, gave considerable coverage to hearings at The Hague.

In a lead article on Wednesday it said a “democratic constitutional state such as Germany, which is committed to the rule-based order, must be measured by the standards of the international obligations that it has entered into – no matter who the plaintiff is”.

Even if the newspaper thinks it unlikely the court will find against Germany, “Nicaragua is using the world public for a political tribunal in which the indictment already achieves the [desired] effect.”

On Tuesday evening Germany’s main ARD evening news bulletin led with two court cases – the Swiss climate case in the European Court of Human Rights and a paternal rights ruling at the Karlsruhe constitutional court – but had nothing from The Hague.

The Tagesthemen news magazine carried Nicaragua’s arguments on the Monday evening, including the German side’s promise of a full rebuttal the following day. But it made no reference to this on Tuesday, though it found space for a report on the new Amy Winehouse biopic.

Over on ZDF public television, talkshow host Markus Lanz shattered a taboo over Israel by wrapping in a rhetorical question whether Germany’s ambition to be a “moral superpower” is falling victim to its own contradictions.

“There is now an accusation of double standards,” he said. “And there is the question: how do we deal with a certain hypocrisy?”