The UN top court will hear a case filed by Nicaragua accusing Germany of supporting genocide and asking the International Court of Justice to adopt measures immediately for Berlin to stop supplying Israel with weapons.
The German government has hit back rejecting the allegations.
“Germany has violated neither the Genocide Convention nor international humanitarian law and we will demonstrate this in full before the International Court of Justice,” Sebastian Fischer, spokesman for the German foreign ministry said.
Nicaragua in its 43-page submission to the court, has argued that Germany has breached 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention, set up in the wake of the Holocaust.
“By sending military equipment and now defunding UNRWA (UN agency for Palestinian refugees)… Germany is facilitating the commission of genocide,” says the submission.
“Germany’s failure is all the more reprehensible with respect to Israel given that Germany has a self-proclaimed privileged relationship with it, which would enable it to usefully influence its conduct.”
Nicaragua has asked the UN top court to decide on emergency orders while the court considers the broader case.
The ICJ was set up in 1945 to look into disputes between nations.
Recently, South Africa accused Israel of perpetrating genocide in the Gaza Strip. The court ordered Israel to do everything in its power to prevent genocidal acts. It recently asked Tel Aviv to order additional measures obliging Israel to step up access to humanitarian aid.
The rulings are binding, but it lacks an enforcement mechanism.
The hearing comes at a time when there is an increased call for US-led Western states to stop supporting arms to Israel.
Recently, hundreds of British jurists, including three retired Supreme Court judges, have called on their government to suspend arms sales to Israel after three UK citizens were among seven aid workers from the charity World Central Kitchen killed in Israeli strikes.
Also, UN’s top human rights body called on countries to stop selling or shipping weapons to Israel. The United States and Germany opposed the resolution.
