Achi news desk-
Preliminary hearings opened on Monday at the UN’s top court in a case seeking to end German military and other aid to Israel, based on allegations that Berlin “facilitates” acts of genocide and law-breaking international in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Israel strongly denies that its military campaign constitutes a violation of the Genocide Convention.
Although the case brought by Nicaragua focuses on Germany, it indirectly takes aim at Israel’s military operation in Gaza following the deadly October 7 attacks when Hamas-led militants stormed southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people. More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory’s Ministry of Health. His toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but has said the majority of the dead are women and children.
“We are calm and we will state our legal position in court,” said German Foreign Ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer before the hearings.
“We reject Nicaragua’s accusations,” Fischer told reporters in Berlin on Friday. “Germany has not broken the genocide convention or international humanitarian law, and we will state this in detail before the International Court of Justice.”
Nicaragua has asked the court to introduce preliminary orders known as provisional measures, including that Germany “immediately suspends its aid to Israel, especially its military aid including military equipment to the extent that it can be used” this aid is contrary to the Genocide Convention. ” and international law.
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The court will probably take weeks to deliver its preliminary decision and the Nicaragua case will probably drag on for years.
Monday’s hearing at the world court comes amid growing calls for allies to stop supplying Israel with weapons as its six-month campaign continues to lay waste to Gaza.
The offensive has displaced the vast majority of Gaza’s population. Food is scarce, the United Nations says famine is imminent and few Palestinians have been able to leave the besieged territory.
“The proceedings next week in The Hague will likely further fuel opposition to any support for Israel,” said Mary Ellen O’Connell, professor of law and international peace studies at the University of Notre Dame.
On Friday, the UN’s top human rights body called on countries to stop selling or shipping weapons to Israel. The United States and Germany opposed the decision.
Also, hundreds of British jurists, including three retired Supreme Court judges, have called on their government to halt arms sales to Israel after three UK citizens were among seven World Central Kitchen charity aid workers killed in strikes by Israel. Israel said the attack on the aid workers was a mistake caused by “misidentification.”
Germany has been a staunch supporter of Israel for decades. Days after the October 7 attack by Hamas, Chancellor Olaf Scholz explained why: “Our own history, our responsibility arising from the Holocaust, makes it an ongoing task for us to stand up for the security of the state of Israel,” he said to legislators.
However, Berlin has gradually changed its tone as civilian casualties in Gaza have mounted, becoming increasingly critical of the humanitarian situation in Gaza and speaking out against the ground attack in Rafah.
Nicaragua’s government, which has historic ties to Palestinian organizations dating back to its support for the 1979 Sandinista revolution, was itself accused earlier this year by UN-backed human rights experts of systematic human rights abuses ” amounts to crimes against humanity.” The government of President Daniel Ortega fiercely rejected the allegations.
In January, the ICJ imposed provisional measures ordering Israel to do everything in its power to prevent death, destruction and acts of genocide in Gaza. The orders came in a case filed by South Africa accusing Israel of violating the Genocide Convention.
Last week the court ordered Israel to take measures to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, including opening more land crossings to allow food, water, fuel and other supplies into the war-ravaged enclave.
On Friday, Israel said it was taking steps to increase the flow of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, including reopening a key border crossing into northern Gaza.
Nicaragua argues that by giving political, financial and military support to Israel and by defunding the UN aid agency for Palestinians, UNWRA, “Germany is facilitating the commission of genocide and, in any case failed in its obligation to do everything possible to prevent the commission of genocide.”
Israel strongly denies that its attack amounts to acts of genocide, saying it is acting in self-defence. Israel’s legal adviser, Tal Becker, told judges in court in January that the country was fighting “a war it did not start and did not want.”
& copy 2024 The Canadian Press
