Top Dutch Court Decides on Appeal Against Blocking F-35 Parts Shipment to Israel

THE HAGUE – On Friday, the top court in the Netherlands will deliver a judgment on the government’s appeal concerning a prohibition on the export of F-35 fighter jet components to Israel.

The issue was first raised in late 2023 by three Dutch human rights organizations. They asserted that providing Israel with F-35 parts implicates the Netherlands in potential war crimes during Israel’s conflict with Hamas. Israel refutes allegations of war crimes in its Gaza operations.

Initially, the district court in The Hague dismissed the prohibition request, but come February 2024, an appellate court mandated that the Dutch government cease F-35 part shipments to Israel, citing a significant risk of breaching international law. The government contested this decision at the Supreme Court, arguing that foreign policy should be determined by the government rather than judicial bodies.

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 hosts one of the three regional depots for U.S.-held F-35 parts. Dutch government attorneys argue that a ban in the Netherlands would be ineffective since the U.S. could still supply the parts.

Israel’s operations in Gaza have resulted in the deaths of over 66,200 Palestinians and injuries to nearly 170,000, as reported by Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry does not distinguish between non-combatants and militants in its casualty reports, though it states that women and children comprise approximately half of the fatalities.

The ministry operates under the Hamas administration. U.N. bodies and many independent analysts regard its figures as the most credible estimates of wartime losses.

The war broke out on Oct. 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 U.K. 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.