Nicaragua has berated Germany for its support to Israel amid devastating Gaza war, saying it was “pathetic” to give weapons to the Israeli government while providing aid in war-torn Gaza.
Nicaraguan lawyer Daniel Mueller made the argument before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Monday.
The court is hearing a case brought before it by Managua against Berlin, in which the latter is held accountable for facilitating the war of genocide against Gaza.
“It is indeed a pathetic excuse to the Palestinian children, women, and men to provide humanitarian aid, including through airdrops, on the one hand, and to furnish the military equipment that is used to kill and annihilate them… on the other hand,” Mueller told the court.
Germany is a major arms exporter to the Israeli regime. Last year alone, it provided Tel Aviv with €326.5 million ($353.70 million) in military equipment and weapons.
Israel launched the war against Gaza on October 7 following Operation Al-Aqsa Storm by the territory’s resistance groups into the occupied territories.
Around 33,200 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in the brutal military onslaught so far.
On Sunday, the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA)’s Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said the Israeli war had set a new record in terms of killing minors, paramedics, and journalists.
“This war broke all the superlatives with the highest number of children killed, aid workers, journalists, and medical teams + unprecedented attacks & destruction of hospitals & UN buildings in blatant disregard of International Humanitarian Law,” he wrote in a post on his X account.
Nicaragua also expects the tribunal to call on Germany to reverse its decision to stop funding UNRWA.
“By sending military equipment and now defunding UNRWA…, Germany is facilitating the commission of genocide,” Nicaragua’s 43-page submission said.
“Germany’s failure is all the more reprehensible with respect to Israel given that Germany has a self-proclaimed privileged relationship with it, which would enable it to usefully influence its conduct,” it added.
In early February, it was reported that Managua planned on lodging the same case against Canada, the UK, and the Netherlands for their contribution to the Israeli regime’s genocidal practices in the coastal sliver.
A month earlier, the ICJ imposed provisional measures ordering Israel to do all it could to prevent death, destruction, and acts of genocide in Gaza. The orders came in a case filed by South Africa accusing Israel of breaching the Genocide Convention.
