Activists attempt to stop Netherlands exporting F-35 parts to Israel

Human rights groups, including the Dutch branches of Amnesty International and Oxfam, challenged the Dutch government in court on Monday over the government's attempts to export F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel.

The rights groups argued that preventing "wide scale and serious violations of humanitarian law by Israel" was more crucial than the Netherlands fulfilling its commercial or political obligations to allied countries by supplying parts to Israel.

Lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld, representing the groups, argued at the Hague District Court on Monday that the Dutch state must immediately stop its exports of F-35 parts to Israel.

She cited obligations under Article 1 of the Geneva Conventions, the Genocide Treaty, and Dutch export law.

Zegveld also criticised Israel's response to Hamas' 7 October attacks as "disproportionate", according to Reuters.

Nearly 16,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's indiscriminate war on Gaza, most of them women and children.

Hospitals, schools, and refugee camps have been hit in air strikes with whole towns and neighbourhoods flattened.

The Dutch Ministry of Defence argued in a letter to parliament there was no evidence that F-35s had been involved in violations of humanitarian laws of war.
 

(Reuters contributed to this story)