THE GERMAN GOVERNMENT has sharply rejected allegations before the UN’s top court that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza and warned against “political instrumentalisation” of the charge. Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in a statement that Israel was “defending itself” after the “inhuman” attacks by Hamas of 7 October. “In light of German history and the crimes against humanity of the Shoah, the German government is particularly committed to the (UN) Genocide Convention,” signed in 1948 in the wake of the Holocaust, Hebestreit said. South Africa launched an emergency case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) arguing that Israel...