A Dutch court on Thursday dismissed a case brought by pro-Palestinian NGOs attempting to force the government to freeze arms exports and trade to Israel.
A total of 10 NGOs initiated the action, which demanded an all-out ban on weapons exports and on trading in Judea and Samaria, including a ban on exporting military dogs to Israel, AFP reported.
The groups charged the Netherlands with running a “clearly unlawful” foreign policy that does too little to stop Israel’s war in Gaza against Hamas, the report read.
“While it is plausible that there is a risk of genocide and serious human rights violations, it is not, in principle, up to the court to prescribe to the State what measures must be taken to prevent this,” said the court, per AFP.
The Appeals Court in The Hague rejected all the grounds for appeal made by the organizations and ordered them to pay legal costs.
Attorneys on behalf of the Dutch government said that authorities reviewed export licenses on a case-by-case method.
The court moreover noted that the government has taken steps to curb arms exports to Israel, referring to the suspension of a license to export parts for F-35 fighter jets to Israel that could be used in Gaza.
A Hague Court of Appeal ruling from February 2024 compelled the Dutch government to halt exports of U.S.-owned parts stored in the south of the country to Israel.
And although the ruling was overturned on Oct. 4 by the Dutch Supreme Court, the suspension is unlikely to be rescinded.
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).
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.
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.
