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☆ Middle East Crisis U.N. Court to Issue Decision on Arms Sales to Israel
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-30 | by ( Marlise Simons | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Members of Germany’s delegation during hearings at the International Court of Justice in The Hague in early April. The judges are set to issue an interim decision in a case brought by Nicaragua against Germany. Germany is a staunch ally of Israel and second only to the United States in providing it with arms. Unlike Germany, which has given the court full jurisdiction, the United States has shielded itself and has to consent to a case. It has protected itself even further from the Genocide Convention, signing the convention but exempting itself from any obligations, such as intervening to stop a genocide or paying reparations if it were found to be complicit.

Persons: Israel, ” Israel Organizations: Germany’s, International Court of Justice, Court, Justice, United Nations ’, Hamas Locations: The Hague, Israel, Gaza, Nicaragua, Germany, Europe, United States, ”, South Africa, Geneva

Germany on Tuesday defended itself against accusations that its arms sales to Israel were abetting genocide in Gaza, arguing at the International Court of Justice that most of the equipment it has supplied since Oct. 7 was nonlethal and that it has also been one of the largest donors of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians. Debate over Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip has been muted in Germany, whose leadership calls support for Israel a “Staatsräson,” a national reason for existence, and where people have historically been reluctant to question that support publicly. But the mounting death toll and humanitarian crisis in Gaza have led some German officials to ask whether that unwavering backing has gone too far. Lawyers for Germany said Tuesday that the allegations brought by Nicaragua had “no basis in fact or law” and rested on an assessment of military conduct by Israel, which is not a party to the case. Tania von Uslar-Gleichen, an official at Germany’s Foreign Ministry and lead counsel in the case, told the 15-judge bench that Nicaragua had “rushed this case to court on the basis of the flimsiest evidence.”

Persons: ”, Tania von Uslar, “ Organizations: International Court of Justice, Hamas, Israel, Lawyers, Germany’s Foreign Ministry Locations: Germany, Israel, Gaza, The Hague, Nicaragua, ”

☆ At U.N. Court, Germany Fights Allegations of Aiding Genocide
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-09 | by ( Marlise Simons | Erika Solomon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Germany on Tuesday began defending itself at the International Court of Justice against allegations that it is furthering genocide in Gaza by supplying arms to Israel. Nicaragua brought the case against Germany to the court in The Hague. Berlin has denied violating the Genocide Convention or international humanitarian law, and sent a delegation of international lawyers, including some from Britain and Italy, to the U.N. court. Germany is Israel’s second-largest arms supplier after the United States and a nation whose leadership calls support for the country a “Staatsräson,” a national reason for existence, as a way of atoning for the Holocaust. But the mounting death toll in Gaza and humanitarian crisis in the enclave have led some German officials to ask whether that backing has gone too far.

Organizations: Tuesday, International Court of, Convention Locations: Germany, Gaza, Israel, Nicaragua, The Hague, Berlin, Britain, Italy, United States, ”, atoning

☆ Middle East Crisis Top U.N. Court Orders Israel to Allow ‘Unhindered’ Aid Into Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-29 | by ( Anushka Patil | Marlise Simons | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +6 min

In an interim ruling on Jan. 26, the court ordered Israel to ensure that more aid would be allowed into Gaza. Since then, the “catastrophic living conditions of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have deteriorated further,” necessitating further measures, the court said on Thursday. The ruling touches on some issues that leading aid organizations have called Israeli impediments contributing to the risk of famine in Gaza. Palestinians, U.N. officials and aid workers have voiced concerns about diseases spreading, hospitals collapsing and children beginning to starve to death. But, she wrote, the court “can at least mitigate” the risk to Palestinians by directing the parties before it: South Africa and Israel.

Persons: Israel, “, Aharon Barak, Abdulqawi Yusuf, ”, Nawaf Salam, ” Hilary Charlesworth, Johnatan Reiss, Victoria Kim Organizations: International Court of Justice, United Nations, South, United Nations ’, ” Locations: The Hague, Gaza, Israel, South Africa, Africa, Somalia

☆ International Court Accuses 2 Russian Officers of War Crimes in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-05 | by ( Marlise Simons | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The International Criminal Court on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for two top Russian military officers, accusing them of war crimes in Ukraine for targeting civilians and destroying crucial energy infrastructure. The two officers — Lt. Gen. Sergei Ivanovich Kobylash and Adm. Viktor Nikolayevich Sokolov — are accused in a court statement of being personally responsible for numerous missile strikes by their forces on electrical power plants and substations in multiple locations between October 2022 and March 2023. The wintertime strikes were defined as war crimes because they were largely directed against civilian targets, causing “excessive incidental harm to civilians or damage to civilian objects,” the court said.

Persons: Sergei Ivanovich Kobylash, Viktor Nikolayevich Sokolov — Organizations: Russian Locations: Ukraine

The United Nations’ top court on Monday was hearing a final day of arguments on the legality of Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian territories, hearings that have added pressure to Israel at a time when attention focuses on the war in Gaza. The hearings, which began last Monday, are the first time that the court, the International Court of Justice, has been asked to give an advisory opinion on the issue, which has been the subject of years of debates and resolutions at the United Nations. The court is likely to take months before issuing an opinion. The representatives, including a team of prominent lawyers, said that Israel has abused Palestinian rights with impunity. The Palestinian Authority’s foreign minister, Riyad al-Maliki, said that Israel had subjected Palestinians to decades of discrimination, leaving them with the choice of “displacement, subjugation or death.”

Persons: Israel, Riyad al, ” Organizations: United Nations ’, International Court of Justice, United Nations, West Bank Locations: Israel, Gaza, The Hague, East Jerusalem, Palestinian

☆ Israel’s Occupation of Palestinian Territories Draws Focus of U.N. Court
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-19 | by ( Marlise Simons | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The International Court of Justice began hearing arguments on Monday on the legality of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories. It is the first time the world’s highest court has been asked to give an advisory opinion on the issue, which has been the subject of years of debates and resolutions at the United Nations. The hearings are expected to focus on decades of Israeli actions in the Palestinian territories, including the West Bank and East Jerusalem. What is the International Court of Justice? All countries belonging to the United Nations are automatically members of the court and are expected to accept its jurisdiction.

Organizations: Court of, United Nations, West Bank, International Court of Justice Locations: Palestinian, East Jerusalem, Gaza, Israel, The Hague

With Israel continuing to warn that it plans a ground invasion of Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza, South Africa has asked the International Court of Justice in The Hague to issue new constraints on Israel’s military offensive to prevent genocide. In December, South Africa filed a case with the International Court of Justice, the U.N.’s highest court, accusing Israel of genocide and asking the court to step in with emergency orders. In response, the court ordered Israel last month to ensure that its actions would not lead to genocide and to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza. Under court rules, the judges will have to consider South Africa’s request as a matter of priority. Israel’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday, but Israel has rejected accusations of genocide.

Persons: “, Israel’s, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Netanyahu, ” Johnatan Reiss Organizations: International Court of Justice, South, ”, Israel Locations: Israel, Rafah, Gaza, South Africa, The Hague

☆ French Judges Issue Warrant for Assad in Syria War Crimes Case
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Marlise Simons | More About Marlise Simons | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

French investigative judges have issued an international arrest warrant for President Bashar al-Assad of Syria that accuses him of complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity over the deadly use of chemical weapons against his own people, a judicial official said on Wednesday. The move was a major step to hold Mr. al-Assad and his circle accountable for some of the worst atrocities committed in the yearslong Syria conflict. In the absence of any international court or tribunal that has jurisdiction over Syrian crimes, a patchwork of efforts for accountability has been underway for some time. Several countries, including Germany, Sweden and France, have launched prosecutions of individuals — mostly of low-level members of the Syrian security forces. A special war crimes unit in the French judiciary has been investigating a complaint against Mr. al-Assad and his close associates that was filed in March 2021 by three international human rights groups.

Persons: Bashar al, Assad, al Locations: Syria, Germany, Sweden, France

☆ Years After Iranian Missiles Downed a Passenger Jet, a Suit Seeks Answers
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( Marlise Simons | More About Marlise Simons | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On a clear January morning in 2020, Ukraine Airlines Flight 752 was struck by two Iranian missiles just three minutes after leaving an airport in Tehran, killing all 176 passengers. Ever since, families of the victims have asked for a credible explanation but have been rebuffed by the Iranian authorities. On Wednesday, four of the countries whose citizens perished in the disaster filed suit at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, requesting Iran provide a full account, to acknowledge its responsibility and pay “full compensation” for the material and moral damages. The four parties to the suit — Britain, Canada, Sweden and Ukraine — contend that Iran has failed “to conduct an impartial, transparent and fair criminal investigation” but instead has “withheld or destroyed evidence” and “threatened and harassed the families of the victims.”Iran had no immediate response to the lawsuit. For the family members, who have long complained that the case was being ignored, the filing meant a symbolic first day in court; or, rather, in the highest judicial forum of the United Nations, based in The Hague, which settles disputes between nations and is not a criminal court.

Organizations: International Court of Justice, United Locations: Ukraine, Tehran, The Hague, Iran, Britain, Canada, Sweden, United Nations

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