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Dutch activists try to stop export of F-35 parts to Israel

Activists attempt to stop Netherlands exporting F-35 parts to Israel
MENA
1 min read
04 December, 2023
Human rights groups including the Dutch branches of Amnesty International and Oxfam have sought to stop the Dutch government from exporting F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel.
An Israeli F-35 jet fighter flies above the border area between Israel and Gaza. [Getty]

Human rights groups, including the Dutch branches of Amnesty International and Oxfam, challenged the Dutch government in court on Monday over the government's attempts to export F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel.

The rights groups argued that preventing "wide scale and serious violations of humanitarian law by Israel" was more crucial than the Netherlands fulfilling its commercial or political obligations to allied countries by supplying parts to Israel.

Lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld, representing the groups, argued at the Hague District Court on Monday that the Dutch state must immediately stop its exports of F-35 parts to Israel.

She cited obligations under Article 1 of the Geneva Conventions, the Genocide Treaty, and Dutch export law.

Perspectives

Zegveld also criticised Israel's response to Hamas' 7 October attacks as "disproportionate", according to Reuters.

Nearly 16,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's indiscriminate war on Gaza, most of them women and children.

Hospitals, schools, and refugee camps have been hit in air strikes with whole towns and neighbourhoods flattened.

The Dutch Ministry of Defence argued in a letter to parliament there was no evidence that F-35s had been involved in violations of humanitarian laws of war.
 

(Reuters contributed to this story)