Nicaragua, a longtime supporter of the Palestinian cause, is expanding its legal battle over the Gaza conflict at the International Court of Justice by bringing a case against Germany, a major arms supplier to Israel.
In hearings that opened Monday in The Hague, Nicaragua argued that Germany was facilitating the genocide in Gaza and violating the Genocide Convention by providing Israel with military and financial aid. Carlos Jose Arguello Gomez, Nicaragua’s ambassador to The Netherlands, told the court that “it doesn’t matter if an artillery shell is delivered directly from Germany to an Israeli tank that is disturbing a hospital” or goes to refill the Israeli stockpiles.
“The fact is that the assurance of supplies and exchange of weapons is essential to Israel’s pursuit of attacks in Gaza,” he told the court, saying that Germany was aware of the “serious risk of genocide to be committed.”
Nicaragua asked the court to issue emergency orders, saying that as a party to the Genocide Convention, Germany must immediately suspend military aid to Israel and ensure that its supplies in the country are not unlawful. which is used.
A spokeswoman for the German chancellery, Christine Hoffman, told reporters last week that the government rejected Nicaragua’s accusations. Germany is expected to respond to the case on Tuesday morning.
The Nicaraguan government itself faces sanctions for repressive policies at home. A United Nations special report in February It said the government’s many abuses, including the jailing and exile of opposition figures and Roman Catholic clerics, were “amount to crimes against humanity.”
The case brought by Nicaragua on Monday in The Hague raises new questions about the responsibility of the countries that supplied weapons to Israel for the war in Gaza.
Lawyers say Germany — Israel’s second-largest arms supplier, after the United States — is an easier target for a suit than the United States. Germany has ceded full jurisdiction to the International Court of Justice, the highest court of the United Nations. But the United States declines its jurisdiction, except in cases where Washington expressly consents.
The Nicaragua case is the third before the court this year dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
South Africa initially sought emergency measures from the court, arguing that Israel was in danger of committing genocide, an assertion that the court found possible but that Israel vehemently denied. The court ordered Israel to ensure that its citizens and soldiers do not violate the Genocide Convention, to which Israel is a signatory. The convention prohibits actions aimed at destroying, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.
South Africa also petitioned the court over the famine in Gaza and obtained a new ruling ordering Israel to allow the delivery of food, water and other essential supplies “without delay.” Despite the court’s authority, it has no way to force Israel to comply with its orders. Israel strongly denies accusations of deliberate starvation in Gaza.
In February, the court also took up a case requested by the United Nations General Assembly on the legality of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories. Those hearings, planned long before the war, heard from more than 50 countries, most of which vented anger and frustration at Israel’s attacks on Gaza and the mounting death toll. to civilians.
The Nicaraguan case is broader in scope than the South African one, invoking both violations of the Geneva Conventions and the convention against genocide and requiring the protection of civilians. It also accuses Israel of other “illegal” behavior in the occupied territories.
The court has not yet accepted the case, but it is obliged to quickly respond to requests for emergency measures, as in this case.
Israel, which is not a party to the dispute between Nicaragua and Germany, will not appear in court at this week’s hearings, which are expected to last two days.
Supporting Israel is seen as a historic duty in Germany in light of the Holocaust, but the rising numbers in Gaza have prompted some German officials to question whether that support has gone too far.
Recent intense activity in the court has put it in a rare spotlight. Lawyers say the countries turned to the court because efforts by the United Nations and other negotiators have failed so far to stop the war in Gaza.
“The ICJ will not end the war in Gaza, but it is a diplomatic tool used by foreign policy to apply additional pressure on Israel,” said Brian Finucane, a senior adviser at the International Crisis Group, a think tank for resolving the conflict. . “In the case of Nicaragua, it applies more pressure on Germany.”
