A demonstration in Berlin in support of Palestine demanding a boycott of Israel after its war on Gaza (Reuters)

Government officials in Germany have called for a halt to arms shipments to Israel over human rights concerns.

A group of German civil servants wrote to Chancellor Olaf Scholz and other senior ministers calling on the government to "stop delivering weapons to the Israeli government with immediate effect."

“Israel is committing crimes in Gaza that clearly contradict international law and therefore the Constitution, to which we are bound as federal civil servants and public servants,” a statement by employees said.

The statement cited the International Court of Justice's ruling last January that the military war waged by Israel against the Palestinians in Gaza constitutes "acts of genocide."

According to the authors of the five-page statement, about 600 government employees expressed their support for the initiative, which has been slowly gaining momentum for months through professional networking and word of mouth across a range of ministries.

The statement asked the German government to pressure Israel for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, to renew payments to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), and to “actively and firmly call for recognition of the Palestinian state” within the internationally recognized 1967 borders.

Germany is the second largest military supporter

Last year, Germany agreed to export weapons to Israel worth 326.5 million euros ($354 million), a 10-fold increase compared to the previous year, providing 30% of the Israeli army’s weapons, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

The researchers also found that 99% of Israel's weapons come from the United States and Germany, the latter of which is the second largest supplier.

Civil servants emailed the statement to ministries last week, with a disclaimer: “Given the sensitive content and the state’s excessive repression of criticism in this area, we want to remain anonymous.”

One senior manager described the “climate of fear” within the civil service as “nothing he had ever experienced in 15 years” of his service.

After internal complaints were made to ministers about support for Israeli war crimes dating back to last October, the director was warned not to talk about it, and one development director even advised against having discussions via email, suggesting instead that they only use phones so as not to talk about it. Leaves no paper trail.

The signatories of the statement are a wide range of civil servants from various ministries, and diplomats, in particular, are concerned about the damage that could be caused to Germany’s reputation and international relations, especially with Islamic countries.

Germany in the dock

Germany is defending itself in The Hague today against accusations made by Nicaragua, that Germany's support for Israel violates the Genocide Convention.

Last February, 800 government employees in the United States and the European Union signed a “transatlantic statement,” warning that Western support for Israel may amount to “serious violations of international law,” and complained that expert advice was being ignored.

One of the initiators of the German civil servants' statement, a trained lawyer, expressed his fear not only of losing his job due to his participation in the statement, but also of prosecution and even imprisonment.

In a statement to the Al Jazeera English website, he referred to the “completely lawless situation” in the country after October 7, where people were sometimes brutally arrested, for false legal reasons, and the initiator said, “There are no rights in Germany at the present time regarding Palestine.” .

The initiator, who refused to reveal his identity, said, “We wrote this letter because... this scale of destruction, violence, and atrocities that we are witnessing are unprecedented in recent times,” and added, “This is a major threat to all of our democratic systems if we justify the killing of thousands of children.”

Source: Al Jazeera