Import and export from weapons to Israel – That was about Wednesday in The Hague.
In the Palace of Justice on Wednesday, the appeal of summary proceedings of ten Palestinian and Dutch organizations served against the Dutch state. One of the requirements: a complete and immediate arms embargo against Israel. A few hundred meters away, in the temporary building of the House of Representatives, a debate on the Dutch arms export policy started a few hours after the hearing was closed. This was not just about the export of weapons towards Tel Aviv, but also about the growing purchases of the Dutch Ministry of Defense in Israel.
After the massive attacks of Hamas on October 7, 2023 and the ruthless war of extermination of Israel in the Gaza strip, the Netherlands has stepped back the delivery of weapons to Israel step by step-albeit not voluntarily. At the beginning of 2024, the Court of Appeal in The Hague ordered that the Netherlands had to stop the transit of parts for Israeli F-35 combat aircraft, due to the risk that serious violations of the humanitarian war law took place with these devices. The cabinet made this decision, but went into cassation – a ruling is expected next month.
Iron Dome
Since the judgment of the Court of Appeal, the (now outgoing) cabinet has now considerably tightened the arms export policy for Israel itself. Israel was excluded from the umbrella permits that do not require testing in advance: from now on a permit must be applied for for each weapon sales.
In practice, lawyer Reimer Veldhuis said in the Palace of Justice on behalf of the State, there are now no weapons, or parts of it to Israel-except (radar parts) that are necessary for the Iron Dome, the nickname of the air defense systems that protect Israeli citizens against rocket attacks. Weapon systems that still go to Israel are only intended for maintenance or production of systems that then return to the Netherlands or other countries. The important requirement of the NGOs – a arms embargo – is therefore in fact being met, said Landsadvocaat Veldhuis.
Brekelmans turned out not to be assumed to do any commitments about the cunt of Israeli weapons
That may be, the fact is that VVD and BBB could not agree two weeks ago with the requirement of former minister Caspar Veldkamp (NSC) to just announce such an embargo-with the exception of parts for the Iron Dome-in response to the ever-increasing escalation of the Gaza war by the Netanyahu government. VVD and BBB refused. The coalition parties also blocked a national trade boycott for the illegal Israeli settlements-on which Veldkamp resigned, followed by the rest of the NSC ministers.
‘Heavily disappointing’
During a debate with the Chamber, VVD minister of Defense Ruben Brekelmans (now also forced temporary foreign trade) did not want to take the word ‘arms embargo’ in the mouth, not even after long insistence of the Chamber. According to Brekelmans, the Netherlands already went further than other countries such as Germany (which announced an embargo at the beginning of Augstus against weapons that can be used in Gaza), but the word ’embargo’ would raise too many questions – since the cabinet wants to continue supplying radar systems for the Iron Dome.
Nor did Brekelmans show any commitments when it came to the cighty of Israeli weapons. The Netherlands, according to research from NRCis a major customer: in the last five years, nearly two billion euros in weapon systems were ordered in Israel. That happened, said Brekelmans, because there are no alternatives available – such as for the self -defense systems for Dutch aircraft and helicopters, or because the costs and delivery times of alternatives are too great.
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In the end, it remained with the announcement of the opposition that motions will be submitted during a two -minute debate probably next week, which will call to announce an official arms embargo. Given previous moods in the Chamber, they don’t seem to have much chance.
During the debate, Minister Brekelmans took a distance from the word ‘genocide’ – a term he had taken in his mouth last week. The cabinet wants to use this word, Brekelmans said, not before the State of Israel has been convicted of a judge for this. Abroad spokesperson Kati Piri (GroenLinks-PvdA) reacted frustrated: “Heavily disappointing.”