Germany’s demand for assurances from Israel that it will not use German-supplied weapons against civilians in Gaza does not relieve it of its duty to prevent genocide, experts warned. According to German media reports, Germany recently requested that Israel provide assurances that it would not deploy German weapons against civilians in Gaza.
It was reported that the written assurance requested by Germany reached them on Oct. 10, enabling Chancellor Olaf Scholz to say in parliament: “We have supplied arms and we will continue to do so.”
German Foreign Ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer said at a press briefing in Berlin: “We see no signs that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.”
According to an Anadolu report, Fischer reiterated Germany’s official position, saying genocide refers to the intentional killing, destruction, or other forms of eradication of ethnic groups based on their ethnic or social characteristics, nationalities, or religious beliefs.
Linking arms shipments to this assurance, Fischer rejected the existence of genocide, despite the International Court of Justice’s ruling on Jan. 26, 2024, which stated that it’s “plausible” that Israel committed genocide in Gaza.
This request is seen as a measure taken by Germany to avoid being held accountable for complicity in genocide if the weapons sold to Israel are used in a genocide in Gaza.
Although Germany does not officially acknowledge that genocide is occurring in Gaza, it is attempting to close off avenues that could hold it responsible for aiding the genocide committed by Israel through its provision of arms.
Experts say that Germany’s request for assurances that “the weapons sold will not be used in genocide demonstrates serious concerns about Israel’s actions, suggesting that Berlin is implicitly acknowledging the potential risk of genocide.”
Mark Kersten from the University of the Fraser Valley commented on X: “If you need your partner to sign a ‘don’t-commit-genocide-with-our-weapons’ clause, you shouldn’t be sending and selling that partner weapons at all.”
Juliette McIntyre of the University of South Australia echoed these concerns, saying that Germany’s actions indicate recognition of the potential for genocide.
“This is really quite an extraordinary admission that (Germany) considers there to be a risk of such conduct occurring. Which in turn means Article 1 of the Genocide Convention applies, and I don’t think ‘please don’t do genocide with these particular arms’ counts as prevention,” she wrote on X.
Germany, which provides weapons and military equipment to Israel, is acting contrary to EU and international law, particularly EU Common Position.
The second article of the Common Position, established in 1998 and made binding by the EU Council in 2008, states that if there is a clear risk that exported military technology or equipment could be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law, member states must refuse export licenses.
Additionally, Article 6 of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), to which Germany is a party, prohibits arms exports if there is knowledge that the weapons could be used in genocide, crimes against humanity, or war crimes.
