Church organization calls for partial German arms embargo against Israel over Gaza war

By Oliver Towfigh Nia

BERLIN (AA) - A German church organization representing both Catholic and Protestant churches on Wednesday urged a partial arms export ban against Israel amid the UN and numerous international human rights groups' charges of war crimes and genocide in Gaza.

They call on the German government “not to approve arms exports to Israel if there is sufficient suspicion that the arms will be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law,” said Karl Juesten, co-chairman of the Joint Conference Church and Development (GKKE), at a press briefing in Berlin.

“Armaments such as tank ammunition may not be exported to Israel unless the Israeli government gives the security of the civilian population in Gaza a significantly higher priority,” added the Catholic prelate, whose country is a strong political supporter of Tel Aviv.

Juesten stressed that Israel “must also adhere to international humanitarian law,” but stopped short of calling for a complete ban on German arms exports to Israel.

The Catholic official also called for "an end to the war" in Gaza, saying that "the fighting must cease."

Juesten’s rather soft criticism of Israel’s highly controversial warfare in Gaza stands in stark contrast to international condemnation of Tel Aviv’s lethal military campaign in the besieged enclave. ​​​​​​​

Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, human rights group Amnesty International concluded in a new report released on Thursday.

On Dec. 5, the UK-based human rights organization Amnesty International (AI) said in a damning report it “found sufficient basis to conclude that Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza."

Its latest report, You Feel Like You Are Subhuman: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza, documents how, during its military offensive launched after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, "Israel has unleashed hell and destruction on Palestinians in Gaza brazenly, continuously, and with total impunity."

Since the cross-border incursion, Israel has killed more than 45,000 people in Gaza and reduced the enclave to ruins.

“Amnesty International’s report demonstrates that Israel has carried out acts prohibited under the Genocide Convention, with the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza. These acts include killings, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.

“Month after month, Israel has treated Palestinians in Gaza as a subhuman group unworthy of human rights and dignity, demonstrating its intent to physically destroy them,” said Amnesty International Secretary-General Agnes Callamard.

“Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: this is genocide. It must stop now."

Warning that states that continue to provide arms to Israel are violating their obligation to prevent genocide and risk becoming complicit in genocide, the non-profit urged Israel's Western allies, including the US, Germany, and EU states, to act now "to bring Israel's atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza to an immediate end."

“Israel has repeatedly argued that its actions in Gaza are lawful and can be justified by its military goal to eradicate Hamas. But genocidal intent can co-exist alongside military goals and does not need to be Israel’s sole intent,” Agnes added.

Amnesty said it examined Israel’s acts in Gaza "closely and in their totality, taking into account their recurrence and simultaneous occurrence, and both their immediate impact and their cumulative and mutually reinforcing consequences."

The organization, according to the statement, considered the scale and severity of the casualties and destruction over time, and also analyzed public statements by officials, finding that prohibited acts were often announced or called for in the first place by high-level officials in charge of the war efforts.

Last month, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on Gaza.