Dutch Supreme Court orders government to reassess ban on F-35 parts to Israel
The Netherlands’ Supreme Court has overturned a lower court ban on exports of F-35 fighter jet components to Israel, but ordered the government to reassess the export licence within six weeks to determine whether it poses a clear risk of serious violations of international humanitarian law.
The ruling last week found that The Hague Court of Appeal overstepped its authority when it banned the transfer of F-35 parts to Israel in February, citing concerns they could be used in breaches of international law.
The Supreme Court ruled that courts must exercise considerable restraint when reviewing the State’s actions in areas of foreign policy and national and international security, but added that the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation must reassess the export permit based on criteria set out in the EU Common Position and the Arms Trade Treaty.
The case was brought in late 2023 by three Dutch rights groups—Oxfam Novib, PAX and The Rights Forum—which argued that transferring F-35 parts makes the Netherlands complicit in possible war crimes being committed by Israel in its campaign in Gaza.
A district court initially rejected the ban in December 2023, but in February the Court of Appeal ordered the Dutch government to halt shipments of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel within seven days, ruling there was a clear risk the components would be used in serious violations of international humanitarian law.
Despite the 3 October ruling by the Supreme Court, giving the government the option to resume exports, Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel announced within hours that the ban would remain in place.
‘Given the current circumstances, it is unreasonable to resume the export of F-35 components from the Netherlands to Israel at this time,’ the government said in a statement, adding that ‘a ceasefire must be reached as soon as possible to end the violence and the suffering of the population’.
The Netherlands is home to one of three regional warehouses for US-owned F-35 parts, with a facility in Woensdrecht storing components for onward delivery to countries including Israel.
In 2016, the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation granted an indefinite-term licence for the export and transit of F-35 components under the Strategic Goods Decree. The license permits delivery of F-35 components to Israel without requiring a separate permit for each individual delivery.
Michiel Servaes, director of Oxfam Novib, said the organisation was ‘disappointed that we haven’t been proven right on all counts, but far more importantly, the minister’s mandatory reassessment can only have one outcome: The export ban will remain in place’.
The Supreme Court ruled that the Strategic Goods Decree stipulates that a licence will not be granted if it arises from international obligations, including those under the Arms Trade Treaty and the EU Common Position, which require member states to refuse export authorisations if there is a clear risk that military equipment would be used in the commission of serious violations of international humanitarian law.
The Supreme Court found that when the Minister reassesses a granted licence based on new circumstances, as occurred following Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent military operations in Gaza, the Minister must assess whether mandatory grounds for refusal exist under these international instruments.
Dutch government lawyers had argued that a ban on transfers from the Netherlands would be effectively meaningless as the United States would deliver the parts anyway.
Similar court cases around weapons trade with Israel are underway in France and Belgium. The United Kingdom government suspended exports of some weapons to Israel in 2024 because they could be used to break international law, while Spain halted arms sales to Israel in October 2023.
https://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/details?id=ECLI:NL:HR:2025:1435
