Yesterday, the Dutch judiciary took an unprecedented step in the EU after prohibiting the Government of the country from selling weapons to Israel, in this case spare parts for F-35 warplanes, at the request of the lawsuit presented by several oenagés. Coinciding with the visit to Israel and Palestine by the acting Prime Minister of the Netherlands, the liberal Mark Rutte, the Court of Appeals gave the Executive a seven-day deadline to stop the exports of this indispensable material for to the maintenance of the hunts.
In the decision, the judges argue that “there is a clear risk that serious violations of humanitarian law will be committed in the war in Gaza with the F-35 fighter jets” and warned that Israel “does not sufficiently take into account the consequences of their attacks on the civilian population”.
The Government announced that it will apply the decision, but will present an appeal. “The Government respects the decision of the court and will implement it, but it is of the opinion that the supply of parts of the American F-35 is not illegal”, he indicated in a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which added that the appeal will take place “regardless of the situation in Gaza”.
The note makes it clear that the position of the Dutch Executive is to achieve “a temporary and immediate humanitarian ceasefire, and to provide as much humanitarian aid as possible to the population in need”, but defends that the F-35 fighters are “essential” for Israel because these planes “play a crucial role in its security” and that of the entire Middle East.
The judgment of the Court of Appeals disallows another lower-level decision that ruled in favor of the Government and which they resorted to against the Dutch oenages driving the demand to stop the sale of arms to Israel, the result of a campaign crowdfunding led by Oxfam Novib, PAX and The Rights Forum. These oenages considered the text in which they called for a ban on spare parts for hunting that “Israel’s attacks have caused a disproportionate number of civilian casualties, including thousands of children” and that “there is a clear risk of serious violations of humanitarian law of war”.
The judicial decision has a political and personal background for Rutte, favorite to be elected as the next secretary general of NATO. A group of officials in the prime minister’s office alleged in a letter in January that the Dutch leader was withholding information about the Gaza war and that he exercised tight control over communications relating to the conflict so as not to jeopardize US support to his NATO candidacy. A copy of the officials’ letter of complaint was submitted anonymously to the Court of Appeals.
However, after meeting in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Rutte was yesterday opposed to the large-scale ground invasion of Rafah, a city in southern Gaza bordering Egypt. The Dutch prime minister declared that this operation in an area where 1.4 million displaced Gazans are taking refuge would have “catastrophic humanitarian consequences”.
