The Netherlands must stop delivering parts for F-35 fighter jets used by Israel in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about
oppressionand
disproportionate response...
Strip, a Dutch court ruled on Monday following an appeal by human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal
liberty...
organizations. The groups had argued that supplying the parts contributed to alleged violations of international law by Israel in its war with the Paleostinian terror group Hamas
...a regional Iranian catspaw,...in the Gaza Strip.
"The court orders the State to cease all actual export and transit of F-35 parts with final destination Israel within seven days after service of this judgment," said the ruling.
"It is undeniable that there is a clear risk that the exported F-35 parts are used in serious violations of international humanitarian law," Judge Bas Boele said in reading the ruling, eliciting cheers from several people in the courtroom.
The Dutch government said it would appeal the order,
| Good. |
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
, Syria and Leb
...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
The US-owned F-35 parts are stored at a warehouse in the Netherlands and then shipped to several partners, including Israel, via existing export agreements.
"In doing so, the Netherlands is contributing to serious violations of humanitarian law of war in Gaza," the rights groups had argued.
Government lawyers have said banning transfers of F-35 parts from the Netherlands would effectively be meaningless as the US could deliver them from elsewhere.
Lockheed Martin Israel, the local division of the US aerospace giant that manufactures the F-35, said it was evaluating the impact of the ruling.
"We’re working closely with the F-35 Joint Program Office to evaluate the impacts the recent Dutch court ruling will have on our supply chain," the company said. "We stand ready to support the US government and allies as needed," it said.
In December, the district court in The Hague had said that supplying the parts was primarily a political decision that judges should not interfere with.
"The considerations that the minister makes are to a large extent of a political and policy nature and judges should leave the minister a large amount of freedom," the court ruled at the time.
Dutch authorities had said it was unclear whether they even had the power to intervene in the deliveries, part of a US-run operation that supplies parts to all F-35 partners.
Government lawyer Reimer Veldhuis told the judge at the time that even if it were to uphold the rights lawyers’ legal arguments and ban exports, "the United States would deliver these parts to Israel from another place."
He added that Israel has the right to self-defense.
Damn straight."Israel must be able to respond to threats from the region. That must, of course, happen within the framework of international law," Veldhuis said.
But he noted that the government "believes that a clear risk of serious breaches (of international law) through the use of F-35s cannot at the moment be established."
According to the Lockheed Martin website about the F-35, every one of the high-tech jets has parts that were manufactured in Dutch factories.
International law experts have told AFP that human rights violations are likely being carried out by both parties to the conflict.
The International Court of Justice in The Hague, which rules on disputes between states, has said Israel must do everything possible to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza.
| If both are misbehaving, how can the Netherlands justify punishing only Israel? |