The International Court of Justice (ICJ) rejected this Tuesday to impose precautionary measures on Germany to stop giving political, financial and military support to Israel in the face of the “campaign of destruction” of the Palestinian people, as Nicaragua had requested.
“Based on the factual information and legal arguments presented by the parties, the court concluded that, for the time being, the circumstances are not such as to require the exercise of its power under article 41 of the statute to indicate provisional measures,” indicated the president of the court, Judge Nawaf Salam, in reading the decision.
Salam explained that the court, which remains “deeply concerned about the catastrophic living conditions of the Palestinians,” adopted this decision by 15 votes in favor and one against.
On April 8, Nicaragua asked the ICJ to demand that Germany “cease providing” political, financial and military support to Israel “in the face of its campaign of destruction” of the Palestinian people.since in his opinion it violates the Genocide Convention, and urged Berlin to differentiate its commitment to the “Jewish people” from the “Israeli Government.”
Nicaragua claims that Germany is violating in particular the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, created after the Holocaust.
Furthermore, it denounces that Berlin facilitates the commission of genocide in Gaza with the withdrawal of its funding to the United Nations Palestine Refugee Agency (UNRWA).
For its part, Germany affirmed before the highest court of the UN on April 10 that Israel’s security It is “at the center” of its foreign policy and rejected Nicaragua’s accusations of facilitating a “genocide” in Gaza with its sale of weapons to the Jewish State.
The court stressed today that, according to Germany, 98% of the weapons licenses granted since last October concern other military equipment and not war weapons.
In any case, the judges considered “especially important to remind all States” of their international obligations. in relation to the transfer of weapons to parties to an armed conflict, in order to “avoid the risk that such weapons could be used” to violate the Geneva Convention or the Genocide Convention.
“All these obligations fall on Germany, as a State party to the conventions, in its supply of weapons to Israel,” they noted.
With regard to aid to UNRWA, the court stressed that these are in any case voluntary contributions and that, according to the information provided by Berlin, it should not make any new payment in the weeks following the announcement of its decision. to suspend its financing.
The court stated that The decision rendered in these proceedings does not in any way prejudge the question of the jurisdiction of the court to hear the merits of the matter or any question relating to the admissibility of the claim or the merits itself, and which nullifies the right of the governments of Nicaragua and Germany to present allegations in relation to said issues.
The ICJ was created to resolve disputes between countries and has become a key player in the war between Israel and Hamas, which began with the October 7 attacks.
