Dutch centre-left parties urge cabinet to stop deliveries of F-35 spare parts to Israel

1 year ago 48

Several left and centre-left parties have called on the caretaker cabinet to immediately halt all deliveries of spare parts for F-35 fighter jets to Israel, reacting to revelations earlier this week that the country’s government had continued to do so despite possible complicity in Israeli war crimes against Palestine.

The move comes after Dutch media NRC uncovered that Foreign Minister Hanke Bruins Slot (CDA/EPP) and Foreign Trade Minister Liesje Schreinemacher (VVD) had continued to greenlight the export of spare F-35 parts to Israel following the outbreak of its war with Hamas, despite ministry officials warning that this possibly contributes to “serious violations of the humanitarian war of law”.

The call on the government to immediately halt deliveries was made by D66 (Renew), the Socialist Party (SP/EU Left) and the alliance of Labour (PvdA/S&D) and Greens (GL/Greens/EFA).

“Stop supplying parts for F35s to Israel as long as that country violates the law of war,” D66 lawmaker Sjoerd Sjoerdsma posted on X, adding that he “also asked for clarification and demanded that all legal opinions on violations be shared with parliament immediately”.

Lawmakers were appalled by the ministry’s reasoning for the continuation of deliveries, as it feared that a refusal would harm bilateral relations with Israel and the United States, which led to the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme under which the F-35 is distributed and maintained.

“You can’t blindly say yes because you have an existing cooperation with Israel. Just when these weapons are being deployed, the Netherlands has to build in checks and balances,” GL lawmaker Kati Piri decried.

“Apparently, fear of diplomatic damage takes precedence over large-scale bombing of civilians. The Netherlands is making itself complicit in this way,” added SP lawmaker Jasper van Dijk.

Centre-right claps back

Meanwhile, centre-right lawmakers refuted the criticism, pointing towards the importance of complying with international agreements.

“Stopping delivery of F35 spare parts would make Israel wingless and the Netherlands an unreliable partner. That would be undesirable. Especially when Israel has to defend itself against terrorism (Hamas-Hezbollah), our international security is under pressure, and defence cooperation is crucial,” VVD lawmaker Ruben Brekelmans posted on X.

CDA lawmaker Derk Boswijk chimed in with Brekelmans’ argumentation.

“The Netherlands is cooperating with dozens of countries within the F-35 programme, you should not take an independent decision on blocking shipments. You should not take that lightly,” he stated.

Boswijk also announced that his party would organise a roundtable discussion in parliament next week, where MPs and specialists in international law will delve into the “information war” surrounding the current situation in the Middle East.

(Benedikt Stöckl | Euractiv.com)