UN Court Rejects Halt of German Arms Exports to Israel

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has delivered its preliminary ruling on Nicaragua's charges that German arms supplies to Israel are enabling acts of genocide. The court rejected a request by Nicaragua to issue emergency orders halting Germany's arms exports to Israel, with 15 judges voting against the request and one judge, Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh, dissenting. The decision was based on a significant decrease in recent German arms sales to Israel, the largely defensive nature of the arms sold, and the extensive internal German government processes to consider whether arms would be used to prosecute war crimes or genocide. Nicaragua had argued that Germany's actions breached the 1948 Genocide Convention and posed a serious risk of genocide in Gaza amid Israel's assault on Palestinian territory. The ICJ did not grant a German request to throw the case out altogether, but its ruling only concerned whether or not Berlin should be ordered to immediately stop selling arms to Israel.