The German federal government, in line with Germany’s “Staatsräson” (“reason of state”), has unconditionally defended all of Israel’s actions. In the wake of October 7, it became Israel’s second-largest arms supplier.

Today, numerous organizations and institutions, including the United Nations, refer to the Israeli assault on Gaza as genocide. But it was South Africa’s historic case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, that accused Tel Aviv of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, substantiating its claims with extensive evidence.

At that time, Germany immediately came to the aid of Netanyahu’s government and dismissed South Africa’s case as baseless. The then spokesperson of the federal government stated verbatim: “This allegation is completely unfounded.”

Furthermore, the then German government, a coalition of Greens, Social Democrats, and Liberals, announced that it would support Israel before the ICJ through what is known as a “third-party intervention.” However, this no longer appears to be happening: according to a response from the Federal Foreign Office, no written intervention will be submitted. The deadline for doing so expires in two weeks.

Read more: What’s really behind Germany’s unshakeable support of Israel?

When asked to explain, a spokesperson for the Foreign Office stated that Germany intends to focus on Nicaragua’s case against Germany. In March 2024, Nicaragua also filed a case before the ICJ in which it accuses the Federal Republic, among other things, of supporting genocide in Gaza. In Germany, this case is widely ignored by politicians and the media – just as expressing the view that Israel is committing genocide is still branded in Germany as an “anti-Semitic scandal”.

However, those in positions of responsibility do appear to be concerned: the coalition of conservatives and Social Democrats that has been in power since early 2025 unexpectedly halted German arms deliveries to Israel last August – albeit only partially and for a few months. At the end of October, it was also revealed that representatives of the German government may have lied before the ICJ regarding the nature of arms deliveries to Israel from the stockpiles of the German armed forces. Berlin’s apparent decision to also forgo a third-party intervention in support of Israel strengthens the evidence that pressure from Nicaragua is having an impact on the German government.

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