Pro-Palestinian groups accuse Dutch Government of failing to stop ‘genocide’ in Gaza | Israel-Palestine Conflicts News

The NGOs want the Netherlands to ban the export and transport of weapons, weapon parts, and dual-use materials to Israel.

Pro-Palestinian groups have taken the Dutch government to court, calling for an end to arms exports to Israel and accusing the government of failing to prevent what they call “genocide” in Gaza.

They say that the Netherlands, which is a staunch ally of Israel, has a legal obligation to do everything in its power to prevent violations of international law and the United Nations Convention on Extrajudicial Genocide of 1948, in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

“Today, the plaintiffs are here to answer the Dutch government for failing to comply with international law by failing to intervene in the violation of the rights of the Palestinian people by the state of Israel,” Wout Albers, a lawyer representing the coalition, said the civil court in The Hague on Friday.

“Israel is guilty of genocide and apartheid” and “uses Dutch weapons to fight”, said Albers.

The plaintiffs include a coalition of Dutch and Palestinian organizations working to protect human rights in the Palestinian Territory, and three Palestinian groups.

In October, these groups asked the court to “include a ban on the export and transport of weapons, weapon parts, and dual-use items to Israel and a ban on all Dutch trade and investment relations that help maintain Israel’s illegal occupation.” Palestinian Territories”.

Reporting from The Hague, Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen said that while the court was “looking at whether [Dutch] the state should be forced to stop sending weapons, the state says this decision is not for the court to decide and it is a foreign policy”.

Judge Sonja Hoekstra commented: “It is important to emphasize that the stability of the situation in Gaza is not opposed by the Dutch state, and the situation in the West Bank.”

But he said it was about “finding out what is legitimately in play and what can be expected” from the government.

He admitted that it is a “serious case”.

Albers said, “today is not about judging political decisions, but about ensuring basic respect for international law and protection from violations of international law.”

According to Vaessen, the demands of these groups build on previous decisions of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which earlier this year ruled that the occupation of Palestine is illegal.

On Thursday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif on charges of “war crimes and crimes against humanity”.

Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said his country “respects the independence of the ICC”.

“We will not contact people who are not important and we will follow the orders of arrest. We fully comply with the Rome Statute of the ICC,” he added.

It is unclear how far the case brought by pro-Palestinian groups will go, as the Supreme Court has rejected several previous attempts to hold the Netherlands to its obligations to prevent alleged violations of the Genocide Convention.

The case also builds on the outcome of an earlier case in which the court ordered the government in February to freeze all F-35 fighter jet parts from being shipped to Israel over concerns they were being used in violation of international law.

Israel’s war in Gaza has killed at least 44,056 Palestinians and injured 104,286 since October 7, 2023. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led offensive that day, and more than 200 were captured.