Consulate Rally Demands an End to German Weapons for Israel

SAN FRANCISCO (04-09) – The Republic of Nicaragua, a longtime staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause, presented its request for Provisional Measures to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague April 8 against The Federal Republic of Germany, soliciting the court to halt Germany from supplying weapons to Israel and to restore humanitarian aid to Gaza.

At the same time, Code Pink held rallies presenting letters to eight German consulates in the US and the German Embassy in Washington in support of The International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine (ICSGP) as part of their campaign “…to help the Palestinians in Germany to turn up the pressure on the German government in stopping the genocide.”

As a point of reference, Provisional Measures may be issued by “International courts and tribunals…as temporary, urgent orders to protect the rights of parties involved in a dispute, before a final judgment is reached.”

The two-day ICJ public hearing before the court will consist of oral arguments concerning “…alleged violations by Germany of its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols, intransgressible principles of international humanitarian law and other norms of general international law in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly the Gaza Strip.”

Nicaragua cited the “extreme emergency” situation in Gaza for the court to review Germany’s “participation in the ongoing plausible genocide…” with “extreme and irreparable prejudice now being suffered by the Palestinian people – in particular the Gazan population.”

Nearly all the weapons being used by the Israeli military to destroy Gaza are being supplied by the US, (69%) and Germany (30%) according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. By providing weapons for use in Gaza, all countries involved are complicit in the ongoing genocide.

Prior to formally presenting the letter to the German consul general, the group took turns reading sections of it aloud at the consulate’s locked front gate to those assembled and those with business at the busy consular building and passersby. The letter addressed support for Nicaragua’s request before the ICJ and called for the resumption of UNRWA humanitarian aid to Gaza whose work has been suspended due to accusations by Israel that UNRWA employees had “confessed” to having collaborated with Hamas. UNRWA has reported, however, that the “confessions” instead had been made due to the use of “torture, waterboarding, beatings and threats to the workers families.”

Cynthia Papermaster of Code Pink presented the group’s letter to a security guard at the consulate who in turn forwarded it to the consulate receptionist. An immediate response was received through the consulate’s street intercom to Papermaster who was assured that it would be forwarded to the consul general for his review.

Over this past weekend it was widely reported that a letter dated April 5 and signed by 40 members of Congress including Nancy Pelosi has called the transfer of additional offensive weapons by the Biden administration to Israel as “unjustifiable.”

The letter was addressed to both President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken and in it the signatory expressed their “…shared concern and outrage regarding the recent Israeli airstrike which killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, including an American citizen. We strongly urge you to reconsider your recent decision to authorize the transfer of a new arms package to Israel, and to withhold this and any future offensive arms transfers until a full investigation into the airstrike is completed. If this strike is found to have violated US or international law, we urge you to continue withholding these transfers until those responsible are held accountable. We also urge you to withhold these transfers if Israel fails to sufficiently mitigate harm to innocent civilians in Gaza, including aid workers, and if it fails to facilitate – or arbitrarily denies or restricts – the transport and delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza.”

Report and photos by Phil Pasquini

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