[Opinion] Dutch court's anti-Israel ruling is meaningless, but part of a dangerous trend
[Excerpts]
A Dutch appeals court recently ruled to block the Netherlands from delivering US-owned F-35 military jet parts to Israel. According to the court, the parts, stored by the US in a warehouse located in the Netherlands, allegedly “constitute a clear risk” of being “used in serious violations of international humanitarian law” in Israel’s war against the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza. The decision overruled a lower court decision that had dismissed the case out of hand.
Despite the celebrations from anti-Israel activists, such a ruling will likely have little material consequence regarding the F-35 parts. It is unclear if Israel even needs such parts at this time, and the United States can simply route them to Israel through a different country.
But the ruling demonstrates, in the wake of the October 7 massacre by Hamas, the appalling and growing trend of legal activism originating with anti-Israel non-governmental organizations (NGOs). These groups seek to exploit courts to hamper Israel’s war against Hamas and to force political decisions they could not otherwise obtain through lobbying, protests, and the ballot box.
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