The Supreme Court of the Netherlands ordered the Dutch government on Friday to reassess its suspension of a license to export parts for F-35 fighter jets to Israel.
The government now has six weeks to reevaluate the export permit over concerns of alleged violations of international law during Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
The suspension will remain in place for the time being, the Associated Press reported.
The order overturned a Hague Court of Appeal ruling from February 2024 that compelled the Dutch government to halt exports of U.S.-owned parts stored in the south of the country to Israel.
The Netherlands is home to one of three regional warehouses for F-35 parts (the others are in Fort Worth, Texas, and Williamtown in New South Wales, Australia).
Following the decision, the government appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that arms exports are a matter of foreign policy subject to the executive branch, not the judicial branch.
“The Court of Appeal was not entitled to make its own assessment of whether there is clear risk of serious violations of international humanitarian law,” the Supreme Court said in a written summary of its ruling, according to AP.
It added that “the Minister must reassess the license based on that criterion.”
Under a 2019 U.S. Department of Defense contract, Dutch consortium OneLogistics stores and ships spare parts for the more than 500 F-35s in use by European militaries and the Israeli Air Force.
“We have agreements with other F-35 countries on the distribution, and the Netherlands must remain a reliable partner. And Israel needs the F-35 aircraft to defend itself against threats emanating from the region, separate from Gaza,” Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Geoffrey van Leeuwen tweeted in 2024.
This time, however, while Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel welcomed the ruling, he suggested that it was unlikely that exports to Israel will resume “given the current situation” in Gaza, according to AP.
Michiel Servaes, a representative of one of the NGOs that filed the civil case against the arms exports, was quoted as saying that they were “disappointed” given the decision, but that a resumption of delivery of spare F-35 parts was unlikely.
According to Dutch government lawyers, a Dutch ban on parts transfers to Israel is of little practical significance, as the U.S. delivers the parts anyway, AP reported.
