Germany Faces Genocide Case Over Israel Weapon Sales
Nicaragua has asked the UN’s highest court to halt German weapons sales to Israel at the start of a landmark case
Germany is accused of breaching the UN genocide convention by sending military hardware to Israel and ceasing funding of the UN’s aid agency.
Berlin rejects the claims and will present a defence to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Tuesday.
In 2023 some 30% of Israel’s military equipment purchases came from Germany, totalling €300m ($326m; £257m).
The allegations build on a separate case taken by South Africa in January, where judges in the Hague ordered Israel to take “every possible measure” to avoid genocidal acts. The court also ordered Hamas to release all hostages taken from Israel during its 7 October attacks immediately.
Israel rejects accusations that it is engaging in genocidal acts in its campaign in Gaza, and has insisted it has the right to defend itself.
More than 33,000 have been killed in Israel’s offensive in Gaza, the Hamas-run health ministry there says, the majority of them civilians. Gaza is on the brink of famine, with Oxfam reporting that 300,000 people trapped in the north have lived since January on an average of 245 calories a
day.
Nicaragua says Germany’s arms sales to Israel, which totalled $326.5m last year – a tenfold increase on 2022 – make it complicit in Israel’s alleged war crimes.
Components for air defence systems and communications equipment accounted for most of the sales, according to the DPA news agency.
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