09/07/2026September 7, 2026Germany urges UN’s top court to quash Israel genocide case
Germany‘s top legal representative has told the UN’s top court that a genocide case over weapons sales to Israel, should be thrown out.
The matter was brought by Nicaragua and Germany’s top lawyer, Julia Monar, said the judges at the International Court of Justice lacked the jurisdiction to rule on the case , dismissing Nicaragua’s allegations of Berlin “facilitating genocide” as “inaccurate and distorted.”
Nicaragua argues that Germany’s backing of Israel, notably in terms of arms exports, contravenes the 1948 UN Genocide Convention.
“Nicaragua’s conduct indicates that it was not interested in hearing Germany’s view on its allegations, but simply in bringing Germany before this court,” Monar, told the judges.
Monar said that Nicaragua failed to properly notify the German government and gave her country less than a month to reply before launching proceedings.
It’s typically expected that countries attempt to resolve disputes before bringing them to the court.
Monar pointed out that Berlin scrutinizes all exports of military equipment in accordance with international law.
“Germany has not, since 2024, authorized an export of weapons of war, with final destination in Israel that can be used in the Gaza conflict,” she said.
The German government operates what it calls a “case by case” approval process of arms sales to Israel, with the stated goal of avoiding anything that might be used in Gaza, where at least 73,000 Palestinians were killed between the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israeli civlians and late August of this year.
However, Germany only instituted this policy in 2025, and continued to ship defensive equipment worth hundreds of millions of euros this year.