The UN’s top court on Tuesday rejected a request by the Nicaraguan regime to order Germany to suspend military and other aid to Israel and renew funding to the UN aid agency in Gaza.
The International Court of Justice said the legal conditions for issuing such an order were not met and ruled against the request in a 15-1 vote, effectively siding with Germany, which told judges it hardly exports weapons to Israel. .
However, the 16-judge panel refused to dismiss the case entirely, as Germany had requested. The court will still hear arguments from both sides on the merits of Nicaragua’s case, which alleges that by providing support to Israel, Germany failed to prevent the alleged genocide in Gaza. The case will likely take months or years.
The court “remains deeply concerned about the catastrophic living conditions of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,” said Nawaf Salam, the court’s president.
It added that the court “considers it particularly 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 may be used” to violate international law. .
The reading of the decision lasted less than 20 minutes.
The German Foreign Ministry welcomed the ruling in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
“Germany is not a party to the Middle East conflict; On the contrary: we work day and night for a two-state solution,” the ministry said. “We are the largest donor of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians. “We are working to ensure that aid reaches the people of Gaza.”
But he added that Israel has the right to defend itself and said the Hamas terrorist group still holds more than 100 hostages, “which is abusing the people of Gaza as shields.”
The court noted that Germany had granted only four export licenses to Israel for weapons of war since the start of the conflict, two for training munitions and one for testing purposes, as well as a shipment of “3,000 portable anti-tank weapons.”
Nicaragua, a former ally of the Palestinians, alleges that Germany is enabling genocide by sending weapons and other support to Israel. The head of Nicaragua’s legal team, Carlos José Argüello Gómez, told reporters in court that his country would move forward with his legal arguments.
Israel, which is not a party to the case between Nicaragua and Germany, strongly denies that its attack on Gaza constitutes acts of genocide.
The Nicaraguan regime noted that at least the court had reminded “all states of their international obligations regarding the transfer of weapons to Israel, including Germany.”
“No State can say that it ignores its obligations with respect to the genocide in Gaza and other violations of international law,” says the statement from the Nicaraguan regime.
The Nicaragua case is the latest legal attempt by a country with historical ties to the Palestinian people to stop Israel’s offensive.
Late last year, South Africa accused Israel of genocide in court. The cases come as Israel’s allies face growing calls to stop supplying it with weapons and as some, including Germany, have become more critical of the war.
The court also rejected Nicaragua’s request that Germany be ordered to restore direct funding to the UN aid agency in Gaza.
Israel says it is acting in self-defense after Hamas terrorists stormed southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people.
Since Israel launched its offensive, more than 34,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. His death toll does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but he has said that women and children make up the majority of the dead.
Israel blames Hamas for the high number of civilian deaths because the militants fight in dense residential areas. The army says it has killed more than 12,000 militants.
Germany has been a strong supporter of Israel for decades. Berlin, however, has gradually been changing its tone as civilian casualties in Gaza have skyrocketed, becoming increasingly critical of the humanitarian situation in Gaza and speaking out against a ground offensive in Rafah.
In the case brought by South Africa, the ICJ in January ordered Israel to do everything possible to prevent death, destruction and acts of alleged genocide in Gaza. In March, the court issued new provisional measures ordering Israel to take steps to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where experts say a famine is imminent.
Meanwhile, a separate investigation by another international court, the International Criminal Court, also worries Israeli officials.
The ICC investigation was launched in 2021 into possible war crimes committed by Israel and Palestinian militants dating back to the 2014 Israel-Hamas war. The investigation also looks into Israel’s construction of settlements in occupied territories that Palestinians want for a future state. In recent days, Israeli officials have expressed concern about possible arrest warrants in that case.
Opponents say that Ortega has received a “hard blow”
Nicaraguan opponents in exile described the ICJ decision on Tuesday as a “hard blow” for the regime presided over by Daniel Ortega.
“The Nicaraguan dictatorship has received a hard blow and, why not say it?, also the Russian dictatorship that was pulling the strings behind that demand,” declared former Nicaraguan ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS) Arturo McFields Tinder in an audio published in X.
“The ICJ said no to the Nicaraguan dictatorship, it said no to the Russian dictatorship and it said no to all those interested in promoting terrorism against the people of Israel,” continued McFields Yescas, who rebelled against the Ortega regime during a OAS virtual session in March 2022.
The diplomat and journalist denationalized by Ortega, who was part of the Sandinista Government from 2011 to March 2022, assured that “we good Nicaraguans bless the people of Israel and we are happy about this decision of the ICJ, which rejected Ortega’s desire to continue having international prominence and to continue attacking Germany, Israel and every democratic country they can”
“Good news. Hard hit. Liver hook to the dictatorship in the ICJ,” she emphasized.
For his part, the denationalized Nicaraguan opposition leader Félix Maradiaga called the ICJ’s decision to reject Nicaragua’s petitions against Germany “a significant setback for the Sandinista dictatorship of Daniel Ortega.”
“This absurd request that sought to stop Germany’s military and financial aid to Israel lacked solid legal foundations,” considered Maradiaga, who was released, expelled and denationalized in February 2023.
“It is evident that the hand of Vladimir Putin, of Russia, is behind the movements of the Ortega dictatorship in Nicaragua, trying to manipulate the situation to benefit his geopolitical interests,” he denounced.
In that sense, Maradiaga highlighted that “the independence and integrity of the Court has remained intact by not giving in to that external pressure,” and called on the international community to be “alert to the attempts of these authoritarian regimes to undermine the institutions.” in their desire to perpetuate their power.”
Meanwhile, the also denationalized opposition leader Juan Sebastián Chamorro highlighted the “hypocrisy” and “the double standards on the part of the Ortega and Murillo dictatorship that wants to present themselves to the international community as the great defenders of international conventions, particularly that of genocide. , when they themselves violate these same conventions”, as well as those related to torture, statelessness, and human rights.
“It is a true incongruity, a hypocrisy, that the dictatorship of Ortega and Murillo, which is the one that most violates international rights, now appears in international courts as the great defender of these conventions,” he insisted. Source: Infobae
