Will Internal and External Pressures Force Germany to Stop Arming 'Israel'?

While the judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) heard a case accusing Germany of facilitating the genocide committed by the Israeli Occupation in the Gaza Strip, senior officials in the European country demanded that the export of weapons to Tel Aviv be stopped immediately.

Nicaragua's case in the ICJ is based on the genocide case brought by South Africa against "Israel."

Last January, the ICJ ruled that South Africa's accusations that "Israel" violated the Genocide Convention during its attack on Gaza were reasonable allegations and ordered emergency measures that included calling on "Israel" to stop any possible acts of genocide.

Last year, Germany approved arms exports to "Israel" worth €326.5 million, including military equipment and war weapons, a 10-fold increase compared with 2022, according to Economy Ministry data.

Germany and other Western countries are facing street protests, various legal cases, and accusations of hypocrisy from campaigns and groups that say "Israel" has killed too many Palestinian civilians in its six-month military offensive.

External Pressures

Germany has denied it is aiding genocide in Gaza by selling weapons to "Israel" in a case filed by Nicaragua in the highest UN courts, highlighting growing legal action in support of the Palestinians.

Germany described the case filed against it by Nicaragua recently before the ICJ on charges of complicity in genocide in the Gaza Strip as baseless and blatantly biased.

The head of Germany's legal team, Tania von Uslar-Gleichen, said Nicaragua's claims "have no basis in fact or law."

Closing Germany's arguments, Tania von Uslar-Gleichen urged judges not to impose preliminary measures and to toss out Nicaragua's case.

"Israel's security is a priority for Germany because of the history of the Nazi extermination of Jews in the Holocaust," she said.

Christian Tams, a member of Germany's legal team, told the court that "since October 7, 98% of arms exports to Israel are general equipment such as vests, helmets, and binoculars."

He added that out of four cases in which the export of military weapons was approved, three were related to weapons unfit for use in combat, such as training ammunition.

Showing judges a photo of German aid being airdropped over Gaza, Tams added that "Berlin continues to provide humanitarian support to Palestinians every single day under extremely difficult conditions, constructively engaging with international partners."

Last week, Nicaraguan lawyers asked the International Court of Justice to order Germany to stop arms sales to "Israel" and resume funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) as emergency measures while the court prepared to hear the case.

In the 43-page case submitted to the court, they stressed that "Berlin was violating the 1948 Genocide Convention and international humanitarian law by continuing to supply Israel even after it recognized the risk of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip."

Nicaragua asked the ICJ to decide to impose interim measures, which are emergency orders imposed while the court considers the case more broadly. 

A court decision is expected within approximately two weeks. Although the rulings are supposed to be legally binding, the court has no mechanism to enforce them.

It is noteworthy that the main donors to UNRWA, including the United States and Germany, had suspended their funding after Israeli allegations that about 12 of its tens of thousands of Palestinian employees were suspected of involvement in the October 7 attacks.

A German Foreign Ministry official told Reuters that "Berlin later resumed some funding for UNRWA's regional activity in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank.

"The government will not make its decision regarding providing support to UNRWA in Gaza until after reviewing the ongoing investigation into these allegations," the official said.

Internal Pressures

Months of street protests have failed to persuade German policymakers to shift their stance on "Israel."

Increasingly, pro-Palestinian organizers are trying the legal route in hopes of having more success.

In a related context, about 600 senior public sector employees in Germany called on Chancellor Olaf Schulz to immediately halt the supply of weapons to "Israel" and continue supporting the UNRWA's relief efforts.

The internal movement places more burden on the German government, which has become trapped between internal and external pressures.

According to the Freiheitsliebe news website, the employees sent a message to Scholz emphasizing Germany's duty to persuade "Israel" to allow urgent aid into Gaza.

The message also stated that sanctions must be imposed on "Israel," and Germany must immediately take appropriate action in this regard. This includes freezing political and economic relations with "Israel."

They highlighted that voices that criticize the Israeli Occupation's violations of international law are systematically silenced by the German government, and critics are marginalized and criminalized.

A number of German lawyers also announced the filing of an urgent lawsuit against the German government to oblige it to stop the export of weapons to "Israel" commissioned by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on suspicion that these weapons were used in serious violations of international law.

This is the second lawsuit filed by these lawyers belonging to Palestinian organizations operating in Europe.

The complainants asked the German government to protect their lives and stop arms exports, according to what was stated by organizations including the European Legal Support Center (ELSC), Law for Palestine, and The Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD).

These organizations had filed a lawsuit against the German government at the end of last February on charges of aiding and abetting genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

The lawsuit was filed specifically against members of the Federal Security Council, which is the body that approves weapons licenses, and consists of members of the German government, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

German government spokesperson Christiane Hoffmann said she could not comment on the Berlin court case and whether Germany would suspend arms exports to "Israel" pending a ruling.

Arming 'Israel'

Recently, Western governments have been criticized for their continued support for "Israel" in the wake of its continued brutal aggression against the Gaza Strip.

Although it is an arms manufacturer, "Israel" relies heavily on aircraft, bombs, missiles, and ammunition imported from its Western allies.

Military experts say that all Western countries must stop their campaigns to support the Israeli army with weapons, because continued military support for Tel Aviv means killing more innocent Palestinians.

In a resolution recently proposed by the United Nations Human Rights Council to ban sending weapons to "Israel," 28 countries approved the resolution and 13 abstained from voting.

The decision was rejected by both the United States and Germany, which constitute the vast majority of the Israeli Occupation's arms imports, as they provide it with up to 99% of its military needs.

From 2003 to 2023, German governments approved nearly €3.3 billion in arms export licenses to "Israel," according to Forensis, a Berlin-based investigatory nonprofit. More than half of that is listed as war weapons, including big-ticket items such as submarines.

Despite the controversy over Israeli violations in Gaza, Chancellor Scholz remains a staunch defender of the Israeli Occupation's right to "self-defense," and there are no indications that arms sales to it may be suspended.

It is noteworthy that the International Arms Trade Treaty requires countries to evaluate, before selling weapons, whether they will be used in genocide or war crimes.

This treaty applies to 113 signatory countries, including Germany, which was listed as the Israeli Occupation's second-biggest supplier of weapons, behind the United States, between 2019 and 2023, according to a recent SIPRI report.

In turn, lawyer Ghassan Ibrahim indicated in a statement to Al-Estiklal that "there is no German law to consider such cases that are unlikely to lead to a cessation of arms exports under Federal law."

"The cases filed against Germany, both internally and externally, may increase political pressure on the German government to become more transparent and announce the weapons it intends to transfer or the weapons it previously transferred to Israel," he added.

"Germany's recent appearance before the ICJ on charges of facilitating genocide in Gaza may pave the way for the possibility of prosecuting more of Israel's allies, especially the United States, the UK, and France," Mr. Ibrahim said.