Germany today formally denied before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, that it is aiding Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip by selling weapons to Israel. This happened during the hearings in the case filed by Nicaragua in the highest court of the United Nations, reported Reuters. The agency added that the Latin American country's claim is another illustration of the growing wave of legal action by the international community in support of the Palestinians in the enclave.
German lawyer Tanya von Uslar-Gleichen, a legal adviser to the German foreign ministry, told judges at the International Court of Justice that Nicaragua's lawsuit was rushed and based on inconclusive evidence, Reuters reported. She added that German arms exports to Israel were carefully scrutinized to ensure compliance with international law.
"Germany is doing everything in its power to justify its responsibility to both the Israelis and the Palestinians,", the lawyer also stated. Reuters indicates that Germany is the country with the largest supplies of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.
Von Uslar-Gleichen said Israel's security is of paramount importance to Germany, given the heavy historical legacy of the Holocaust. "Germany has learned from its past, which includes responsibility for one of the most horrific crimes in human history – Shoah (tragedy in Hebrew, the Jewish name for the Holocaust - note ed.)", she said.
At the same time, Reuters recalls that Germany has been one of the staunch supporters of Israel since the beginning of the conflict in Gaza on October 7 last year, caused by the bloody attack by fighters of the radical Palestinian group "Hamas" against Israeli territory, followed by a retaliatory Israeli offensive in the coastal territory.
The agency notes that Germany supplied Israel with military equipment and weapons worth 326.5 million euros last year, making it one of the largest arms suppliers to Israel in the world. The occasion has seen street protests and various lawsuits against Germany and other Western countries, who have been accused of hypocrisy by human rights groups who claim that Israel has caused the deaths of too many civilians during its six-month conflict with the " ;Hamas", adds Reuters.
Nicaragua's lawyers yesterday asked the UN International Court of Justice in The Hague to order Germany to stop selling weapons to Israel and to restore funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees. According to Nicaragua, Berlin is violating the 1948 Genocide Convention and international humanitarian law by continuing to supply Israel with weapons after Germany was already aware of the danger of genocide in the Gaza Strip.
Reuters points out that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denies this, saying Israel's war is against "Hamas killers" and not Palestinian civilians in Gaza. According to Israeli data, on October 7 last year, fighters of "Hamas" have caused the death of about 1,200 people on Israeli territory, most of them civilians. According to information from the Ministry of Health of the group "Hamas" the number of Palestinians killed exceeded 33,000.
On January 26, the UN International Court of Justice in The Hague issued an interim ruling in the genocide case brought by the Republic of South Africa against the State of Israel, ordering Israel to prevent acts of genocide against Palestinians and to do more to help of civilians in the Gaza Strip, Reuters recalls.