The Supreme Court lifts the ban on the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel and orders the government to reassess.
The Supreme Court annulled the decision of the Court of Appeal that prevented the Netherlands from exporting parts of F-35 fighter jets to Israel. At the same time, the court ordered the Minister of Foreign Trade to reassess the export license within six weeks to ensure compliance with international humanitarian law.
The case was brought by Oxfam Novib and several other humanitarian organizations, arguing that Dutch exports enable Israel to use F-35 fighter jets in its attacks on Gaza, leading to civilian casualties. These organizations called for a halt to all exports, citing the risk of contributing to war crimes.
Initially, a lower court rejected the organizations' demands. However, in February 2024, the appeals court ruled in their favor and ordered the government to halt exports. The court then found that continuing to supply Israel with these parts posed a clear risk of contributing to serious violations of international humanitarian law.
The Supreme Court disagreed with this assessment, emphasizing that the authority to make such a decision rests solely with the competent minister and not with the judiciary. Accordingly, it lifted the previous ban, but stressed that the minister is obliged to apply international treaties and European regulations when reevaluating the export license.
According to the ruling, if the review shows that there is a real risk of using F-35 parts to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law, the government will be obliged to revoke the license. This decision comes despite the Attorney General recommending last November to uphold the ban, a recommendation that the Supreme Court often follows, but it chose not to take it into account in this case.