Dutch court to rule on F-35 parts export to IOF over Gaza aggression
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The case concerns US-owned F-35 parts stored at a warehouse in the Netherlands and then shipped to several partners, including the Israeli occupation entity.
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An Israeli air force F-35 warplane flies over during a graduation ceremony for new pilots in Hatzerim air force base near the southern occupied city of Beer al-Sabe', Thursday, June 29, 2023. (AP Photo)
A court in the Netherlands will rule Friday on whether to force the Dutch government to stop supplying parts for F-35 fighter jets being used by the Israeli occupation forces in their ongoing aggression on the besieged Gaza Strip.
A group of human rights organizations has brought the case, arguing that supplying the parts contributes to Israeli violations of international law.
The case concerns US-owned F-35 parts stored at a warehouse in the Netherlands and then shipped to several partners, including the Israeli occupation entity, via existing export agreements.
These parts "make it possible for real bombs to be dropped on real houses and on real families," said Michiel Servaes, director of Oxfam Novib, one of the plaintiffs.
Dutch authorities have claimed that it is not clear whether they even have the power to intervene in the deliveries, part of a US-run operation that supplies parts to all F-35 partners.
"On the basis of current information on the deployment of Israeli F-35s, it cannot be established that the F-35s are involved in serious violations of humanitarian law of war," the government said in a letter to parliament.
But Liesbeth Zegveld, human rights lawyer for the plaintiffs, dismissed this as "nonsense".
She charged that the Dutch government was clearly familiar with "the enormous destruction of infrastructure and civilian centres in Gaza."
Zegveld pointed to the government's own export rules, which state that a license should be refused if there is a "clear risk" the goods "will be used in the commission of serious violations of international humanitarian law."
This comes as the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza stated that the number of Palestinians killed in the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Strip has risen to 18,787 and more than 50,897 are now injured.
