Nicaragua tells UN court that Germany is facilitating Israel’s ‘genocide’ in Gaza
The claim, dismissed by Berlin, is over arms sales to Israel and suspension of funding for UNRWA’s Gaza operations
A Nicaraguan envoy accused Germany of ignoring Isrel’s “genocide,” as he called it, against Palestinians during preliminary hearings Monday at the United Nations’ top court.
Carlos Jose Francisco Arguello Gomez, Nicaragua’s ambassador to the Netherlands, said this at the International Court of Justice in the Hague, where he asked to order Germany to halt military arms exports to Israel and to resume its funding of the UNRWA agency of the UN for Palestinians.
“What is striking about this reaction from Germany is that it suspended assistance to UNRWA, but ignored statements and accusations by leading international authorities that Israel was perpetrating genocide and other violations of international humanitarian law in Palestine,” Arguello Gomez said.
Germany has rejected the allegations, against which it will defend in court on Tuesday. Israel has also dismissed allegations of genocide, saying its attacks in the Gaza Strip are targeted against Hamas terrorists and designed to cause as little collateral damage as possible.
In January the ICJ ruled South Africa’s claims that Israel violated some rights guaranteed under the genocide convention during its assault on Gaza were plausible and ordered emergency measures, including a call for Israel to halt any potential acts of genocide.
Germany and the United States are among major donors that suspended some funding to UNRWA in Gaza after allegations that around 12 of its tens of thousands of Palestinian employees were suspected of involvement in the Oct. 7 attacks. The agency provides vital aid to Gaza.
Berlin has since resumed some funding to UNRWA’s regional work in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank, but not to their Gaza branch, a foreign ministry official told Reuters.
Nicaragua, a longtime supporter of Palestinian causes under the government of its far-left authoritarian President Daniel Ortega, last month announced plans to petition the ICJ to take legal action against Germany for its continued arms shipments to Israel and its suspension of funding for UNRWA following evidence that some of its employees participated in the October 7 massacre of Israelis by Hamas.
Some 3,000 Hamas terrorists invaded Israel on October 7, murdering some 1,200 people and abducting another 253, of whom about 90 are believed to be still alive and held captive by Hamas. According to the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza, some 32,000 Palestinians have died following Israel’s invasion of Gaza on October 27 to topple the Hamas regime. The data don’t distinguish between civilians and terrorists, of whom Israel says it has killed at least 13,000.
“Germany is facilitating the commission of genocide and, in any case, has failed in its obligation to do everything possible to prevent the commission of genocide,” Nicaragua wrote in its petition to the ICJ.
