UN court dismisses application that would have compelled Germany to stop military aid to Israel

The UN’s top court has rejected an emergency application that would have ordered Germany to cease military aid to Israel on the grounds that it was being used to “facilitate genocide” in Gaza — dismissing a case taken by Nicaragua in a ruling that lasted just 17 minutes.

Judges at the International Court of Justice ruled by 15 to one that the specific circumstances in the case taken by Nicaragua were “not such as to require the court to take emergency measures”, though it remained “deeply concerned” about the plight of Palestinians in Gaza.

The court’s president, Judge Nawaf Salam, said it was particularly concerned at the “catastrophic living conditions” of the Palestinian population “in view of the prolonged and widespread deprivation of food and other basic necessities to which they have been subjected”.

In observations following the substance of Tuesday’s ruling, he pointed out that under article 1 of the Geneva conventions, all states and parties were obliged to ensure respect for the conventions and that their legal obligations under the conventions were complied with.

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The court, which sits in The Hague, did not, however, accede to Germany’s application to have Nicaragua’s case removed from its list. “Where there is a manifest lack of jurisdiction on the part of the court it can remove a case,” said the judge. “In this case, it cannot.”

Germany has been targeted by Nicaragua — a long-time supporter of the Palestinian cause — because it is one of Israel’s largest suppliers of weapons and military equipment, exporting consignments worth €326.5 million in 2023, a tenfold increase on 2022, according to figures from the economic ministry in Berlin.

Nicaragua’s claim was that this support made Germany “complicit in breaches of humanitarian law”, said Judge Nawaf, laying out the case. However, this allegation, he added, was rejected by Germany as “false”, pointing out that every individual export licence was legally assessed.

Israel has consistently denied that its aerial and ground campaign in Gaza has genocidal intent, insisting that it has been acting in self-defence following the surprise Hamas attack in southern Israel on October 7th in which some 1,200 people were killed and 253 hostages taken, according to Israel’s figures.

Since Israel launched its offensive in response, more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, of whom the majority have been women and children, according to figures from the strip’s Hamas-run health ministry.

As to whether Germany should be ordered to resume its contributions to the UN refugee agency for Palestinians, Unrwa, which became contentious after 12 of the agency’s employees were alleged by Israel to have been involved in the October 7th attack, the judge said such contributions were voluntary, no new contributions had been due, and Germany had supported aid from other sources, specifically an EU package of €50 million on March 1st.

In a post on X following the court’s ruling on Tuesday, the German foreign ministry welcomed the decisions, observing that Germany was “not a party to the conflict in the Middle East”.

It added that Berlin was the largest donor of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians and that it was “working urgently” to ensure that aid reached the people of Gaza.

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