THE HAGUE, Netherlands (CN) — A Dutch court ruled Friday the government can continue to send spare parts for F-35 fighter jets to Israel, rejecting an argument from a trio of human rights groups that doing so makes the country complicit in war crimes.
The Hague District Court ruled that the Netherlands does not have to reassess its export permit for the U.S.-owned parts that are stored at an air force base in the south of the country.
The ruling, only available in Dutch, says the government has “a wide degree of freedom” to determine whether or not to send military goods.
Lawyers for Oxfam Novib, Amnesty International and The Rights Forum claim the planes were being used in Gaza in violation of international law.
At a news conference following the announcement of the ruling, Oxfam Novib’s director Michiel Servaes said he was "very disappointed" in the outcome.
Liesbeth Zegveld, who is representing the organizations, told Courthouse News they will appeal the decision.
“Human rights are put behind or after or lower than political foreign policy interests. That’s amazing given what’s happening in Gaza,” she said.
The Netherlands is home to one of three F-35 European regional warehouses. The fighter jets are owned by the United States, but since 2019 Woensdrecht Air Base has served as a distribution center for spare parts.
The Israeli Air Force placed an order for parts following the attacks by Hamas on Oct. 7. The Dutch customs office asked the government if it wanted to proceed with the order, as military goods require an export license, and was given the go-ahead.
Lawyers for the Netherlands argued during a hearing earlier this month that there is no evidence the planes are being used to commit war crimes and that if the Dutch stop sending parts, Israel will simply get them from the United States.
“The government does not know the operational information on which Israel makes targets and assessments,” lawyer Reimer Veldhuis argued on behalf of the Dutch state.
The Netherlands has blocked the export of military goods before. Research by Dutch newspaper NRC found that between 2004 and 2020, the government refused to grant an export license to Israel 29 times.
According to Amnesty International, as of Dec. 5, some 15,000 people had died in Gaza since the military operation in repose to the Hamas attacks began. Most of them, the organization says, are women and children.
“The Netherlands is host country of both the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court and likes to present itself as a champion of international law. But our government is losing all credibility at this point,” Dagmar Oudshoorn, the director of the Dutch branch of Amnesty International, said when announcing the lawsuit.
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