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With Germany among the top weapon suppliers to Israel amid the ongoing offensive in Gaza against Hamas, pro-Palestinian organisations in the country are pursuing the legal route to persuade German policymakers to shift their stance on Tel Aviv, DW News reported.
Deutsche Welle (DW) is an international broadcaster based out of Germany. Last week, Berlin-based lawyers filed an 'urgent appeal' on behalf of Palestinians against the German government in a German court, according to a statement by the European Legal Support Center, a nonprofit aligned with the Palestinian solidarity movement. The suit alleges that German "weapons are being used to commit grave violations of international law, such as the crime of genocide and war crimes". The plaintiffs called on the courts to order a halt to these deliveries. On Friday, the government's deputy spokesperson, Christiane Hoffmann, told reporters she would have to follow up later with a response to the latest legal action, DW News reported. The case goes hand-in-hand with criminal charges filed on behalf of Palestinians in February, which specifically targeted high-ranking members of the German government, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, and Economy Minister Robert Habeck, whose cabinet portfolios are most responsible for approving weapons export licenses. Other countries such as Canada and the Netherlands have already taken steps to review their military support for Israel. The latest effort, against the German government as a whole, specifically goes after 'weapons of war'. The German laws covering export licenses to third countries distinguish between those and 'other military equipment'. "War weapons" include tanks and fighter jets, which must meet a higher bar to receive export approval. 'Other military equipment', as defined by government terminology, could include equipment such as helmets, body armour, medical supplies, and training resources. DW News said in its report that over 20 years from 2003 to 2023, German governments approved nearly 3.3 billion Euros (USD 3.6 billion) in arms export licenses to Israel, according to Forensis, a Berlin-based investigatory nonprofit. More than half of that is listed as "war weapons," including big-ticket items such as submarines. Forensis is aligned with those filing the suit, but its report is based on open-source data from the German government and other public sources, such as SIPRI, a conflict research institute. In a recent SIPRI report, Germany was listed as Israel's second-biggest supplier of weapons, behind the United States, between 2019 and 2023. The two countries account for nearly all of Israel's weapons imports. In 2022 and 2023, the split between the two was almost 50-50. In the latest five-year period, the Forensis report shows that the value of 'actual exports' of war weapons to Israel is 'redacted' or 'undisclosed' to "avoid the identification of relevant companies" and to "protect trade and business secrets", DW News reported, quoting from a German government report from 2020. The German government approved almost all export licenses to Israel since 2003. In 2023, the total value of approved arms export licenses jumped about ten-fold over the previous year, exceeding the 20-year average. (ANI)
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