BERLIN

The German government has withdrawn its support for Israel in its defense against a genocide charge before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), according to reports on Sunday.

“We are now ourselves a party to contentious proceedings before the ICJ and have consequently decided not to make use of this option [of intervening],” private broadcaster n-tv cited Josef Hinterseher, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, as saying.

The German government intends instead to focus on the legal proceedings initiated by Nicaragua which filed a lawsuit against Germany before the ICJ in the spring of 2024 , he added.

South Africa brought a genocide case against Israel in December 2023 at the highest court of the UN.

In January 2024, Berlin rejected South Africa’s claims as “baseless”, saying they amounted to “political instrumentalization” of the 1948 Genocide Convention, a treaty that outlined the crime under international law in the aftermath of the Holocaust. Germany announced at that time it would file an intervention on Israel’s behalf.

In March 2024, Nicaragua filed a complaint with the court alleging that Germany was aiding and abetting genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by supplying weapons to Israel.

“We firmly reject the allegations that Nicaragua has made against Germany before the ICJ,” the Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.

When asked whether the German government no longer held the position that the genocide allegation against Israel was “entirely without merit,” the Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that the allegation was being addressed before the International Court of Justice. “And of course, we would like to wait for the outcome.”

Unlike Germany, the US is defending Israel before the ICJ against the genocide allegations. More than a dozen other countries have filed interventions, including Spain, the Netherlands, and Ireland. However, many hold a different view than the US.

In its complaint, South Africa accuses Israel of actions aimed at the extermination of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.

Israel launched a relentless offensive on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 8, 2023, killing more than 72,000 people, mostly women and children, and injuring over 171,000 others.