Top UN court to hold hearings in case accusing Germany of facilitating Israel’s war
The United Nations’ top court in The Hague is hearing a case on Monday that seeks an end to German military aid and other support to Israel. Nicaragua says that Berlin is “facilitating” acts of genocide and breaches of international law in Gaza, where Israel’s war has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians.
While the case brought by Nicaragua centres on Germany, which provides a reported 30 percent of the Israeli military’s weapons, it indirectly takes aim at Israel’s onslaught on Gaza.
Germany’s foreign ministry spokesperson said Berlin rejects Nicaragua’s accusations and has not breached either the Genocide Convention or international humanitarian law.
German civil servants demand ‘immediate’ end to Israeli arms supplies
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/7/german-civil-servants-demand-immediate-end-to-israeli-arms-supplies
A group of German civil servants have written to Chancellor Olaf Scholz and other senior ministers calling on the government to “cease arm deliveries to the Israeli government with immediate effect”.
“Israel is committing crimes in Gaza that are in clear contradiction to international law and thus to the constitution, which we are bound to as federal civil servants and public employees,” the statement says, citing the International Court of Justice’s ruling in January that Israel’s military actions are “plausible acts of genocide”.
According to the organisers of the five-page statement, about 600 civil servants have voiced support for the initiative, which has slowly been gathering traction for months through professional networks and word-of-mouth across a range of ministries.
Father of killed aid worker urges tougher US stance on Israel
The father of Jacob Flickinger, a US citizen killed in an Israeli air strike on a World Central Kitchen convoy of aid workers in Gaza on April 1, has spoken to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, The Associated Press reports.
John Flickinger told Blinken that the US, Israel’s most important ally, must use its power to pressure Israel to end killings in the besieged Gaza Strip. “If the United States threatened to suspend aid to Israel, maybe my son would be alive today,” Flickinger told AP as he described his 30-minute conversation on Saturday with Blinken.
Jacob, 33, was killed in Israeli drone strikes that hit a convoy he and six other aid workers were travelling in to deliver food aid in Gaza. The elder Flickinger said that in his view, the strike “was a deliberate attempt to intimidate aid workers and to stop the flow of humanitarian aid”.
