THE HAGUE (Reuters) – Nicaragua has filed a case at the International Court of Justice against Germany for giving financial and military aid to Israel and for defunding the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), the U.N.’s top court said on Friday.
Nicaragua asked the ICJ, also known as the World Court, to issue emergency measures requiring Berlin to stop its military aid to Israel. The court usually sets a date for a hearing on any requested emergency measures within weeks of a case being filed.
According to Nicaragua’s claim Germany is violating the 1948 genocide convention and the 1949 Geneva convention on the laws of war in the occupied Palestinian territories.
It builds on the case South Africa brought against Israel for allegedly committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Last month the ICJ said South Africa’s claims that Israel violated the genocide convention were not implausible and ordered emergency measures, including a call for Israel to halt any potential acts of genocide in Gaza.
Under the genocide treaty countries not only agree not to commit genocide but also to the prevent and punish any possible genocide. It also makes complicity in genocide and attempting a genocide a violation of the treaty.
Germany is one of the largest arms exporters to Israel together with the United States.
(Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg and Bart Meijer, editing by Deepa Babington)
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