A Dutch court weighs a lawsuit against arms sales to Israel

THE HAGUE -- Pro-Palestinian activists told a Dutch court on Friday that the Netherlands is violating international law by selling weapons to Israel, a day day after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes.

If The Hague District Court supports the complaint, the Netherlands will be banned from sending weapons or weapons parts to Israel and trading with the occupied territories. The Netherlands has already halted the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel following a similar case earlier this year.

“The government uses my own tax money, that I pay, to kill my own family. I’ve lost 18 members of my own family,” Ahmed Abofoul told a full courtroom. Abofoul is the legal adviser for the pro-Palestinian organization Al-Haq, one of the 10 groups who sued the government.

The Dutch state denies it is in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention, drawn up following World War II. “Every cooperation is cautiously weighed,” government lawyer Reimer Veldhuis said, arguing the court should not take the role of the state in setting foreign policy.

The treaty requires signatories to do everything they can to prevent and punish genocide.

The activist groups pointed to several emergency orders from another court, the International Court of Justice, as confirming the obligation to stop weapons sales. In January, the top U.N. court said it was plausible Palestinians were being deprived of some rights protected under the Genocide Convention.

“This is the result of the complicity of governments for decades,” Abofoul told reporters after the hearing. The court will rule on Dec. 13.

On Thursday, the world’s only permanent international criminal court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, his former defense minister and Hamas’ military chief, accusing them of crimes against humanity in connection with the 13-month war in Gaza.

The warrants said there was reason to believe Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have used “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid and have intentionally targeted civilians in Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza — charges Israeli officials deny.

Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp, whose country hosts the court, confirmed The Netherlands would arrest Netanyahu if he arrived on Dutch soil.

“The line from the government is clear. We are obliged to cooperate with the ICC and we will also do that. We abide 100% by the Rome Statute,” he said in response to a question in parliament.

Hard-right leader Geert Wilders, whose party became the biggest after Dutch elections last year, condemned the warrants. He said on social media that he plans to visit “my friend” Netanyahu in Israel soon, showing further cracks in the country’s four-party coalition that almost collapsed last week.