Dutch court weighs lawsuit against arms sales to Israel

Ten groups of pro-Palestinian activists lodged a complaint on Friday that the Netherlands is violating international law by selling weapons to Israel, a day after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes.

If The Hague District Court supports the complaint, the Netherlands will be banned from sending weapons or weapons parts to Israel and trading with the occupied territories.

The Netherlands has already halted the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel, following a similar case that was launched earlier this year.

Ahmed Abofoul, a legal adviser for one of the plaintiff groups, Al-Haq, told the courtroom, “The government uses my own tax money, that I pay, to kill my own family. I’ve lost 18 members of my own family.”

The Netherlands denied it is in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention, with government lawyer Reimer Veldhuis arguing that “every cooperation is cautiously weighed.”

Veldhuis added that the court should not take on the role of the state in deciding on foreign policy.

The Genocide Convention requires signatories to do everything they can to prevent and punish genocide.

Accusations and denials

The activist groups bringing the case pointed to several emergency orders from another court, the International Court of Justice, as confirming the obligation to stop weapons sales. In January, the top UN court said it was plausible that Palestinians were being deprived of some rights protected under the convention.

“This is the result of the complicity of governments for decades,” Abofoul told reporters after the hearing.

The court will rule on 13 December.

On Thursday, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, his former defence minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas’ military chief, accusing them of crimes against humanity during the 13-month war in Gaza.

The warrants said there was reason to believe Netanyahu and Gallant have used “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid, and that they have intentionally targeted civilians in Gaza — charges Israeli officials deny.

Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp, whose country hosts the court, confirmed that the government would arrest Netanyahu if he arrived on Dutch soil.

“The line from the government is clear. We are obliged to cooperate with the ICC and we will also do that. We abide 100% by the Rome Statute,” he said in response to a question in parliament.

However, hard-right leader Geert Wilders, whose party became the biggest in parliament after the Dutch elections of 2023, condemned the warrants.

He said on social media that he plans to visit “my friend” Netanyahu in Israel soon — showing further cracks in the Netherlands’ four-party coalition government, which almost collapsed last week.