Top German officials, including Chancellor Scholz, are being sued for allegedly ‘aiding genocide’ in a case that raises awareness and loads pressure.
Berlin, Germany – Late last week, lawyers in Germany filed charges against some of the country’s most senior politicians, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz, accusing them of “aiding and abetting genocide” in the Gaza Strip.
The case on behalf of German Palestinians who have family in the besieged Strip centres around the issue of alleged complicity, given Germany’s continued support of Israel despite the incredibly high civilian death toll amid incessant bombardment.
Almost 30,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since October 7, in a campaign that followed an attack in southern Israel which killed 1,139 people by Hamas, the group that governs Gaza.
“We the living must remember the dead in Gaza, tell their stories and fight for justice,” Nora Ragab, a migration researcher and one of the German Palestinians involved in the case, said in a statement.
Ragad’s motives for getting involved are both political and personal.
“My aunt and uncle were over 70 so, like a lot of the older people in northern Gaza, they decided to stay after evacuation orders were given,” she told media.
When an Israeli bulldozer arrived one day in November to demolish the newly built house next door, Ragab’s uncle went outside to ask the soldiers not to destroy the home because peaceful civilians lived there.
“The neighbours saw everything,” she recounted. “They told us he went outside with his hands up. But the soldiers shot him anyway. When my aunt tried to drag him back into the house, they shot her too.”
The legal case is being backed by a number of civil society organisations, including the European Legal Support Center, the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy, and the UK-based Law for Palestine.
Lawyers filed charges against senior politicians who sit on Germany’s Federal Security Council after January’s interim ruling by the United Nation’s highest court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The ICJ said it was “plausible” that Israeli acts in Gaza might amount to genocide.
Germany’s Federal Security Council directs national security policy and authorises weapons exports. In addition to Scholz, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Economy Minister Robert Habeck, Finance Minister Christian Lindner and others also stand accused.
For Ragad, the act of bringing this charge against German politicians has been important.
Statements, aid and weapons
“Of course, it’s not going to bring them back,” she said. “But we should be doing everything to try and stop this violence. Germany actually has a special responsibility because of its history. That is why it should take even the slightest accusation of genocide really seriously, investigate it and do everything possible to prevent and punish it.”
The charges hinge on three main points, explained Nadija Samour, the German lawyer who filed the case with the country’s federal prosecutor.
The third point involves German weapons exports to Israel.
These rose from 32 million euros ($35m) in 2022 to 303 million euros ($328m) last year.
Most of the increase was approved by the German government after October 7. Currently, German politicians are considering sending Israel more tank shells.
Samour said that if the federal prosecutor thinks the case has legs, they will investigate the charges. If they do not, they have to explain why, she said.
Since the ICJ’s verdict, similar court cases have been launched elsewhere.
One in the US, against US President Joe Biden, has not been successful. Another in the Netherlands was successful and stalled exports of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel. Both cases are being appealed.
So can the German case succeed? Local law experts say it is unlikely.
“I don’t think this legal route will be successful,” said Stefan Talmon, a professor of international law at the University of Bonn. “The law around this topic is much too complicated.”
The ICJ decision is only an interim one, therefore the threshold for evidence is not as high, Talmon explained.
“So establishing that [German politicians] are responsible for aiding and abetting an act of genocide in the Palestinian territories seems to me to be incredibly difficult,” he told media.
There have been successful convictions like this in the past in Germany but these involved individuals helping an offender directly, Talmon noted.
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