(30 Apr 2024)
RESTRICTIONS SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Hague, Netherlands – 30 April 2024
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1. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Corder, Associated Press correspondent in the Netherlands:
"United Nations top court has today rejected a request by Nicaragua to order Germany to halt military exports to Israel and refund the UN agency in Gaza. The court effectively sided with Germany, which argued it’s already pouring aid into Gaza and has barely exported any weapons to Israel since the start of the conflict on October 7th."
2. Various of Head of Germany’s legal team, Tania von Uslar-Gleichen
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Corder, Associated Press correspondent in the Netherlands:
"Nicaragua was a long-standing ally of the Palestinians. Its lawyers had argued that by selling arms to Israel, the countries effectively aiding the commission of genocide in Gaza. Israel strongly denies that its military campaign amounts to genocide."
4. Various of Nicaragua’s Ambassador to the Netherlands, Carlos José Argüello Gómez
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Corder, Associated Press correspondent in the Netherlands:
"The court rejected Nicaragua’s request for provisional measures, but the case itself will continue and likely take years to resolve."
6. Wide of courtroom
7. Judges entering
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Corder, Associated Press correspondent in the Netherlands:
"While the court sided with Germany in this case, it also said that it continues to be concerned about the plight of Palestinians living in Gaza."
9. Various of courtroom
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Corder, Associated Press correspondent in the Netherlands:
"Germany’s aid to Israel is marginal compared with the massive support provided by the United States. But Nicaragua couldn’t haul Washington in front of this court because the US doesn’t recognize its jurisdiction."
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STORYLINE:
The top U.N. court rejected on Tuesday a request by Nicaragua to order Germany to halt military and other aid to Israel and renew funding to the U.N. aid agency in Gaza.
The International Court of Justice said that legal conditions for making such an order weren’t met and ruled against the request in a 15-1 vote.
“Based on the factual information and legal arguments presented by the parties, the court concludes that, as present, the circumstances are not such as to require the exercise of its power … to indicate provisional measures,” said Nawaf Salam, the court’s president.
However, the 16-judge panel declined to throw out the case altogether. The court will still hear arguments from both sides on the merits of Nicaragua’s case, which alleges that Germany failed to prevent genocide in Gaza. That will likely take months.
Salam said that the court “remains deeply concerned about the catastrophic living conditions of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in particular in view of the prolonged and widespread deprivation of food and other basic necessities to which they have been subjected.”
He added that the court “considers it particularly important to remind all states of their international obligations relating to the transfer of arms to parties to an armed conflict, in order to avoid the risk that such arms might be used” to violate international law.
The reading of the decision lasted less than 20 minutes.
The German Foreign Office wrote on X after the ruling that “no one is above the law. This guides our actions. We welcome today’s decision by the International Court of Justice.”
AP video shot by Ahmad Seir Nassir
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