Germany, Nicaragua trade barbs at Gaza genocide case

Nicaragua and Germany crossed swords at the U.N.'s top court on Monday, with Managua saying Berlin was "pathetic" to supply aid to Gazans while also providing Israel with weapons, a case the top German lawyer dismissed as "grossly biased".

Nicaragua has hauled Germany before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to demand judges impose emergency measures to stop Berlin from providing Israel with weapons and other assistance.

Lawyers for Nicaragua argued Germany is in breach of the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention, set up in the wake of the Holocaust, by furnishing Israel with weapons.

"It is indeed a pathetic excuse to the Palestinian children, women and men to provide humanitarian aid, including through airdrops, on the one hand and to furnish the military equipment that is used to kill and annihilate them... on the other hand," Daniel Mueller, a lawyer for Nicaragua, told the court.

Nicaragua's ambassador to the Netherlands, Carlos Jose Arguello Gomez, told the court: "Germany seems not to be able to differentiate between self-defense and genocide."

Nicaragua asked the ICJ to decide "provisional measures" — emergency orders imposed while the court considers the broader case.

"Germany was and is fully conscious of the risk that the arms it has furnished and continues to furnish to Israel" could be used to commit a genocide, said Alain Pellet, a lawyer for Nicaragua.

"It is extremely urgent that Germany finally suspend" such aid, he added.

Germany will respond fully in court on Tuesday but has already hit back at the allegations.

Its top lawyer, Tania von Uslar-Gleichen, said Nicaragua's case was "grossly biased".

"Germany completely rejects the accusations. We never did violate the...