Pro-Palestinian NGOs seek court order to halt Dutch arms exports to Israel Reuters
THE HAGUE – Ten pro-Palestinian NGOs asked a Dutch court on Friday to stop the Netherlands from sending arms to Israel and trading with Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories, citing the high number of casualties in Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip.
According to the plaintiffs, the Dutch state, as a signatory to the Genocide Convention in 1948, has a duty to take all appropriate measures available to prevent genocide.
Lawyer Wout Albers, representing groups including the Palestinian rights groups Al Haq and Al Mezan and the pro-Palestinian Jewish organization Een Ander Joods Geluid, said the Netherlands had failed to take the necessary steps by continuing its arms exports and military cooperation.
“This must end soon,” he said.
The case, heard by a regional court in The Hague, cites a January order given to Israel by the International Court of Justice to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza. The plaintiffs cited “a large number of victims killed and wounded and an unprecedented carnage” to argue that the genocide was taking place.
They also cited arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court on Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former chief of defense for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity including persecution, murder and starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.
Israel says the allegations of massacres in its operation in Gaza are baseless and that it is only hunting Hamas and other armed groups that threaten its existence and are hiding among civilians, which the groups deny. Israel said Thursday’s arrest warrants were shameful and unreasonable.
Dutch attorneys have asked the judges to dismiss the NGOs’ demands, arguing that it is not up to the judges to decide Israel’s foreign policy.
“The Dutch state does not take part in Israel’s attacks on the Gaza border (…) or in the maintenance of settlements” in the occupied Palestinian territories, state attorney Reimer Veldhuis told the court.
In February, a Dutch court ordered the government to freeze all shipments of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel over concerns they were used to violate international law during the Gaza war. The government appealed that decision.
The judges did not say how long the trial of the Palestinian NGOs will take. Such cases usually last about two weeks.
The Netherlands said Thursday after the arrest warrants were issued that Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp’s visit to Israel has been postponed.
