Dutch court quashes bid to ban arms sales to Israel over war in Gaza

Lawyers for government denied Dutch foreign policy towards Israel is unlawful

Palestinian diplomat Ammar Hijazi at a separate International Court of Justice hearing into Israel’s legal obligation to enable aid into Gaza. AFP

A Dutch court has thrown out a case brought by pro-Palestinian activists seeking to force the Netherlands to halt trade and weapons exports to Israel over the war in Gaza.

A group of 10 NGOs had accused the Dutch state of doing too little to prevent what they described as “genocide” in Gaza with a “clearly unlawful” foreign policy towards Israel. They urged judges to impose a blanket ban on weapons exports to Israel, a ban on exporting military dogs and a ban on trading in occupied territories.

The Appeals Court in The Hague dismissed all the grounds of appeal made by the organisations and ordered them to pay legal costs. “While it is plausible that there is a risk of genocide and serious human rights violations, it is not, in principle, up to the court to prescribe to the state what measures must be taken to prevent this,” the court said.

The court also noted that the Dutch state had already taken several measures. For example, authorities do not grant an export licence for military goods if there is a risk they will be used in Gaza, the court said.

A banner reading 'Shut Fokker down, stop supporting genocide' was unfurled on the side of the aerospace company's headquarters in Papendrecht, in South Holland, during a demonstration. AFP

During hearings, lawyers for the government had denied that Dutch foreign policy towards Israel was unlawful and stressed that authorities always reviewed on a case-by-case basis whether to grant export licences.

Minke Gommer of the Brandeis law company, which handled the case on behalf of the NGO coalition, said the court had incorrectly made a distinction between offensive and defensive weapons. “The only test when granting or rejecting an export licence is whether there is a clear risk that the weapons could be used to facilitate or commit human rights violations,” she said.

Furthermore, the reasons for granting licences are not made public, said Somo, the Amsterdam-based Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations, which was part of the coalition. “The licensing policy for Dutch arms exports is shrouded in secrecy”, said Lydia de Leeuw, Somo's strategic litigation head.

In its appeal, the coalition had also accused the Dutch state of enabling war crimes committed by the Israeli army by allowing the export of attack dogs that are used to terrify Palestinian civilians. The Israeli army says it only uses attack dogs in antiterror operations.

The court said it was up to the state to decide what measures to take to prevent human rights breaches by Israel.

Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel. AFP

The Appeals Court in The Hague was originally scheduled to render its verdict on October 8 but judges decided to delay the decision until a Supreme Court ruling in a similar case. In that verdict, the Supreme Court said it was up to the Dutch government to decide whether it would export parts used for Israeli F-35 fighter jets in Gaza.

Following the Supreme Court ruling, the Dutch government decided to keep in place its existing ban on shipping such parts. There has been increased scrutiny in the Netherlands on companies that export weapons parts to Israel, including the Dutch aerospace company Fokker.

Photos on Thursday showed a banner reading “Shut Fokker down, stop supporting genocide” that had been unfurled on the side of the aerospace company's headquarters in Papendrecht, in South Holland, during a demonstration.

The Gaza war has become increasingly unpopular in European countries that are traditionally allies of Israel. In September, a poll by Ipsos & IO found that 65 per cent of Dutch residents were against the war.

The Dutch Foreign Minister, David van Weel, said in September that he planned to work on legislation to ban imports from the occupied Palestinian territories.