Rights grps take Dutch gov. to court again over F-35 parts to 'Israel'
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Court docs state that the US exports Dutch-made fighter jet parts to other nations to create a global supply of spare parts, which "Israel" benefits from.
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An Israeli Air Force F-35 warplane flies over Mount Herzl, the military cemetery in "Israel", on Sunday, May 12, 2024. (AP)
Three human rights organizations are going back to court against the Dutch government for not conforming to the ban on supplying F-35 fighter jets to "Israel", which the court said at the time was a "clear risk" that the planes would be involved in breaking international humanitarian law.
Oxfam Novib, one of the groups involved, said, "Unfortunately, everything indicates that these parts end up in Israel from the Netherlands via other routes."
Liesbeth Zegveld, a lawyer representing the groups, told the court that the Netherlands "has continued delivering (parts) to other countries, including the United States. And that contravenes the order of the court," arguing that "the court order (from February) applies to all F-35 parts with Israel as the final destination and the state must stop all such deliveries in practice."
Zegveld urged the government to "actively prevent" parts from going to "Israel".
Read next: Rights lawyers pushing to stop German arms deliveries to 'Israel'
Citing court documents, public broadcaster NOS said the Dutch government had acknowledged it could not prevent parts shipped to the United States from eventually ending up in Israeli F-35s.
The documents state that the US exports Dutch-made fighter jet parts to other nations to create a global supply of spare parts, which "Israel" benefits from.
However, government lawyers argued that "Israel" could still get spare parts from elsewhere other than the Netherlands.
At the time, the court said, "The court orders the State to cease all actual export and transit of F-35 parts with final destination Israel within seven days after service of this judgment," adding, "The considerations that the minister makes are to a large extent of a political and policy nature and judges should leave the minister a large amount of freedom."
The rights group argued that by sending F-35 parts to "Israel", the Netherlands "is contributing to serious violations of the humanitarian law of war in Gaza," which comes after the district court in The Hague ruled in December that the supply of parts was a political decision that judges should not refrain from interfering with.
This comes the same month as the Israeli occupation signed a $3 billion agreement with the United States to acquire a third squadron of Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter jets, the Israeli Security Ministry announced.
The $3 billion deal is financed by US military aid to "Israel", the ministry said, specifically by the US Foreign Military Financing (FMF).
Read more: Netherlands claims no evidence IOF involved in human rights violations
The agreement includes the procurement of 25 additional F-35 jets, bringing the total number of these advanced aircraft in the Israeli occupation's Air Force to 75. The acquisition is formalized through a Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) signed by the Israeli mission to the United States.
Deliveries of the new jets are scheduled to commence in 2028, with an expected delivery rate of three to five aircraft per year.
