Nicaragua to ICJ – stop German military backing for Israel
JVL Introduction
The following article and podcast from Al Jazeera explore the significance of Nicaragua’s request to the International Court of Justice to order Germany to stop supporting Israel’s military. The court is already considering submissions from South Africa and Colombia and has put in place provisional measures ordering Israel to cease “plausibly genocidal” acts. Israel has ignored the ruling and is trying to divert attention from the Gaza catastrophe by undermining the UNRWA relief agency and stoking conflict with Iran.
Al Jazeera notes that Nicaragua’s case is so far the only submission to involve two countries not directly involved in the alleged atrocities. It targets Germany as the world’s second largest supporter of the Israeli military after the US. Unlike the US, Germany fully accepts the jurisdiction of the ICJ and so could – in theory at least – find itself ordered to avoid “assisting the perpetrator”. Nicaragua has requested provisional measures to stop Germany supplying military assistance for Israel and to oblige it to resume funding of UNRWA.
NWI
This article was originally published by Al Jazeera on Mon 8 Apr 2024. Read the original here.
Nicaragua to ICJ: End Germany’s support of Israeli ‘genocide’ in Gaza
Nicaragua tells UN top court that Germany is ‘pathetic’ to supply aid to Palestinians while providing arms to Israel.
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Being “nerdy”, I’ve now listened to all of Nicaragua’s legal case at the ICJ.
I’m about to listen to the whole of Germany’s defence.
Nicaragua charged Germany with facilitating Israel’s alleged genocide and apartheid. Given Nazi Germany’s crimes under both headings and the long haul modern Germany has had to cleanse its name and restore itself as a moral, democratic nation, these charges fundamentally undermine Germany’s sense of itself. They sting intolerably.
Germany is also by reputation a more law-respecting, agreement-respecting nation than many others. While the current governments of the UK and of Israel seem ready to deceive anybody and everybody and to break any agreements as soon as they don’t suit, if Germany is found to be the transgressor in this case I think it’ll abide by the ICJ’s rulings.
Follow on to previous post…
Snippets from today’s article in the “Guardian” suggest some German lawyers at least reckon that Nicaragua has a good chance of winning its ICJ case against Germany …
“Germany will face a fresh call to revoke all arms sales to Israel on Thursday in a lawsuit that puts more pressure on Berlin amid a rising outcry about the scale of deaths and destruction in the war on Gaza.
A lawsuit in the German DOMESTIC COURTS will ask judges to urgently direct the government to revoke all arms licences to Israel issued since 7 October”….
… AND that the UK government may have to defend its case in court for continuing to supply Israel with arms:-
“the Global Legal Action Network has now been given a date of 23 April for an oral hearing for its request for judicial review of the UK statement that arms exports can continue on the basis of legal advice that Israel is not acting unlawfully”.
Germany and the UK are already guilty of breaching the Genocide convention, the ICJ’s finding of plausible risk, together with the profound and escalating harm to the Palestinian people in Gaza, constitute a serious risk of genocide sufficient to trigger the UK’s legal obligations. Those genocidal statements by Netanyahu,Gallant and Hertzog at the start of the genocide followed immediately by actions of same are proof positive of ‘intent, more than enough to trigger ‘the required risk’.
(2) States are required “to employ all means reasonably available to them” to prevent genocide and responsibility is incurred if “the State manifestly failed to take all measures to prevent genocide which were within its power”. The notion of due diligence is of critical importance in this obligation.[63]
(3) The “obligation to prevent, and the corresponding duty to act, arise at the instant that the State learns of, or should normally have learned of, the existence of a serious risk that genocide will be committed. From that moment onwards, if the State has available to it means likely to have a deterrent effect on those suspected of preparing genocide, or reasonably suspected of harbouring specific intent (dolus specialis), it is under a duty to make such use of these means as the circumstances permit”.[64]
(4) The UK cannot deny from 26 January 2024, when the ICJ issued its order for provisional measures, knowledge of the plausible risk of genocide through the actions of Israel in Gaza. The ICJ’s finding of plausible risk, together with the profound and escalating harm to the Palestinian people in Gaza, constitute a serious risk of genocide sufficient to trigger the UK’s legal obligations.
https://lawyersletter.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Gaza-letter-FIN-3-April5.pdf