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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
UN’s top court rejects call for Germany to immediately halt arms | |
exports to Israel | |
By Ivana Kottasová, CNN | |
Updated: | |
11:54 AM EDT, Tue April 30, 2024 | |
Source: CNN | |
The United Nations’ top court struck down a demand by Nicaragua that | |
immediately halt its arms exports to Israel on Tuesday, saying it | |
cannot issue emergency measures against Berlin under the current | |
circumstances. | |
“The court, by 15 votes to 1, finds that the circumstances as they | |
present themselves to the court are not such as to require the exercise | |
of its power under article 41 of the statute to indicate provisional | |
measures,” Judge Nawaf Salam, president of the International Court | |
of Justice (ICJ), said at The Hague in the Netherlands on Tuesday. | |
However, the court also rejected Germany’s demand to strike the | |
lawsuit from its list, meaning the case will now move on, a legal | |
process that could take years. The ruling on Tuesday only concerned | |
whether or not Berlin should be ordered to immediately stop selling | |
arms to Israel. | |
The only judge who voted against Germany was Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh, | |
the ad hoc judge chosen by Nicaragua. Countries that do not have a | |
judge of their nationality sitting on the ICJ can chose to appoint an | |
ad hoc judge to join the court for cases that concern them, which is | |
what Nicaragua did with the Jordanian judge. | |
Reading the ruling, Salam said the court was “concerned about the | |
catastrophic living conditions of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, | |
including prolonged deprivation of food and basic necessities.” | |
The case against Germany was brought by Nicaragua. A long-time | |
supporter of the Palestinian cause, the Central American country | |
accused Germany of violating its obligations as a signatory of the | |
Genocide Convention through its political, financial and military | |
support for Israel, and by suspending funding to the United Nations | |
Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). | |
Germany suspended the funding in January amid allegations that 12 of | |
the UN agency’s employees were involved in the Hamas attack on Israel | |
on October 7. It has since reinstated it. | |
Germany’s lawyer Tania von Uslar-Gleichen welcomed the court’s | |
decision and described “Nicaragua’s allegation as absolutely | |
false.” Germany “will continue to refute them in total,” she | |
said. | |
Its foreign ministry said in a statement posted on X shortly after the | |
announcement that “Germany is not a party in the conflict in the | |
Middle East” and added: “to the contrary, Germany is working day | |
and night for a two-state solution.” | |
Clash of long-time supporters | |
The case pits one of the staunchest supporters of Israel against a | |
longstanding supporter of the Palestinians. | |
Nicaragua’s affinity to the Palestinian cause dates to the 1970s, | |
when Israel was a key weapons supplier to the United States-backed | |
Nicaraguan regime led by the Somoza family, and supported it in | |
suppressing the Sandinista revolution. | |
In turn, the Sandinistas, led among others by Nicaragua’s current | |
President Daniel Ortega, forged a close relationship with the | |
Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), which supplied them . | |
Nicaraguan Ambassador to the Netherlands Carlos Jose Arguello Gomez | |
told the court that his government had launched the case against | |
Germany “on behalf of the Palestinian people” who are “being | |
subjected to one of the most destructive military actions in modern | |
history.” | |
Lawyers representing Nicaragua explained the lawsuit did not accuse | |
Germany of committing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza,� | |
but of “failing in its obligation to prevent and suppress the crime | |
of genocide.” | |
Germany, meanwhile, is Israel’s second largest supplier of weapons | |
after the US. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research | |
Institute (SIPRI), Berlin was responsible for some 30% of Israel’s | |
arms imports in 2023. | |
German politicians have repeatedly stated that Israel’s security is� | |
Germany’s “raison d’etre,” because of its Nazi past. | |
Since October 7, when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel, killed | |
around 1,200 people and took another 250 hostages, Germany has on the | |
militant group on its soil, but has also put significant curbs on | |
pro-Palestinian voices and those critical of Israel. | |
In Berlin, pro-Palestinian marches have been limited and schools have | |
been granted the power to place bans on Palestinian flags and keffiyeh | |
scarves. | |
Across the country, using the pro-Palestinian slogan “From the river | |
to the sea” is now a criminal offense. The chant, used frequently at | |
demonstrations, demands equal rights and the independence of | |
Palestinians, although in some cases it is intended to call for the | |
abolishment of Israel. | |
Some politicians have called for acknowledgement of Israel’s right to | |
exist to be a prerequisite for German citizenship. The country has the | |
largest Palestinian diaspora in Europe, estimated at 300,000. | |
Von Uslar-Gleichen referred to the Nazi Holocaust against Jews during | |
World War II when presenting Germany’s arguments at the ICJ, | |
explaining that “our history is the reason why Israel’s security | |
has been at the core of German foreign policy.” | |
While the court ruled in Berlin’s favor on Tuesday, there are an | |
increasing number of voices in Germany calling on Israel to do more to | |
protect civilians in Gaza. | |
Earlier this month, Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock | |
urged Israel to “put in place a massive increase in aid supplies” | |
while also calling on Hamas to release hostages it is still holding in | |
Gaza. | |
Israel was not a party to the case, but the ruling on Tuesday comes as | |
the ICJ is hearing a . In January, the court issued an interim ruling | |
ordering Israel to prevent genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, but | |
of calling for Israel to suspend its military campaign, as South Africa | |
had requested. The ICJ is still considering whether Israel is guilty of | |
violating the Genocide Convention. | |
According to a statement published by the Ministry of Health in Gaza on | |
Sunday, more than 34,450 people have been killed in the strip since | |
Israel launched its war following Hamas’ October 7 terror attacks. | |
This story has been updated. | |
CNN’s Abel Alvarado, Tamar Michaelis, Sophie Tanno, Nadine Schmidt | |
and Inke Kappeler contributed reporting. | |
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