On 6 September 2024, the Supreme Court dealt with the Hague court’s earlier ruling that any transit and export of F-35 components with final destination Israel is prohibited.
The court ruled in February that there was a clear risk that serious violations of humanitarian law of war would be committed in Gaza with those fighter jets. In doing so, the court ruled in favour of Oxfam Novib, PAX and The Rights Forum. As a result, direct exports of the parts to Israel have been on hold since February. The Dutch state has appealed the ruling.
‘It remains painful that a court case was necessary to stop Dutch involvement in the violence in Gaza,’ said Michiel Servaes, Oxfam Novib director, on behalf of the organisations. The court’s landmark ruling earlier this year offered a glimmer of hope. It is disappointing that the Dutch state continues to oppose the export freeze – and thus international agreements to which it has committed itself – even as the war has continued for 11 months and there is no end to the misery for people in Gaza.
Liesbeth Zegveld, lawyer on behalf of the three organisations, said: ‘By supplying F-35 parts to Israel, the government is making the Netherlands potentially complicit in war crimes in Gaza, thus disregarding the most fundamental human rights. The atrocities in Gaza concern us all because it goes against all our shared values and norms.’
With its F-35s, Israel conducts attacks on so-called ‘safe zones’, hospitals and UN schools where displaced Palestinians take shelter, among other things. Recently, an Israeli attack on a school building in Gaza City killed dozens of Palestinian civilians. More than 40,000 Palestinians have already been killed since 7 October. The vast majority of these are civilian casualties. It is likely that the actual death toll is much higher due to the use of hunger and water shortages as weapons of war. The International Court of Justice previously ruled that it is plausible that Israel is in violation of the Genocide Convention.
Also see the page on the court case on the F-35 parts (in Dutch).