Dutch SC to rule on govt appeal against ban on F-35 parts export to Israel

The Netherlands' highest court is ruling Friday on an appeal by the government against a ban on sending parts for F-35 fighter jets to Israel.

The case was originally brought in late 2023 by three Dutch rights groups who argued that transferring the F-35 parts makes the Netherlands complicit in possible war crimes being committed by Israel in its war with Hamas.

Israel denies committing war crimes in its campaign in Gaza.

The district court in The Hague initially rejected the ban, but in February 2024 an appeals panel ordered the Dutch government to halt shipments of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel, citing a clear risk of violations of international law.

The government appealed to the Supreme Court, saying that foreign policy was a matter for the government, not courts.

In November last year, a legal advisor to the Supreme Court issued a non-binding opinion that the government's appeal should be rejected.

The Netherlands is home to one of three regional warehouses for US-owned F-35 parts. Dutch government lawyers argue that a ban on transfers from the Netherlands would effectively be meaningless as the United States would deliver the parts anyway.

Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed more than 66,200 Palestinians and wounded nearly 1,70,000 others, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and militants in its toll, but has said women and children make up around half the dead.

The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government. UN agencies and many independent experts view its figures as the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.

The war broke out on October 7, 2023 after Hamas militants and others stormed into Israel and killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 people hostage. Hamas still holds 48 hostages about 20 of them thought by Israel to still be alive.

In a largely symbolic move, Slovenia announced in August that it was banning the import, export and transit of all weapons to and from Israel, calling it the first such move by a European Union member.

Last year, the UK government suspended exports of some weapons to Israel because they could be used to break international law. Spain says it halted arms sales to Israel in October 2023. There also are court cases in France and Belgium around weapons trade with Israel.