The Hague, 25 March 2025 – A coalition of ten Palestinian and Dutch civil society organisations has filed a legal appeal against the 13 December 2024 ruling of the District Court of The Hague, which dismissed the coalition’s preliminary injunction claim against the Dutch State. The case aims to hold the Netherlands accountable for its role in facilitating Israel’s violations of international law, including the illegal occupation of Palestinian territory and plausible genocide committed against the Palestinian people in Gaza. The appeal argues that the court’s failure to apply binding international legal standards undermines the Netherlands’ obligations under the Genocide Convention, the Geneva Conventions, and the recent advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). 

Dutch arms exports and economic ties with settlements

At the core of the appeal is the Dutch State’s continued facilitation of arms exports to Israel and its non-deterrent approach to economic activities in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Despite acknowledging legal obligations, the court rejected the coalition’s request for a ban on military and dual-use exports to Israel, instead relying on the State’s claim that it assesses each export individually. The ICJ’s finding of a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza makes such exports not only irresponsible but also unlawful. The coalition has provided evidence that the Netherlands exports parts for F-16s to Israel, which uses these aircraft in the bombings of Gaza. This creates the risk that the exported parts contribute to or are used in these attacks. Notably, the Dutch government published a new export permit for F-16 parts on the very day of the court hearing in November 2024, contradicting its own assurances that such approvals were unlikely under current conditions. 

Furthermore, the court endorsed the State’s so-called ‘discouragement policy’ regarding Dutch companies operating in illegal settlements without evaluating its effectiveness or compliance with international law. This policy explicitly allows economic ties with settlements, while the ICJ’s July 2024 advisory opinion clearly states that states must prevent any trade or investment contributing to Israel’s illegal activities in the occupied Palestinian territory. The court’s acceptance of this laissez-faire approach undermines efforts to hold corporations accountable for profiting from illegality and directly facilitates Israel’s Zionist settler colonization of Palestinian territory. Consequently, Dutch companies such as Booking.com, Kardan N.V., and Tahal Group International B.V. continue profiting from operations in settlements, thereby facilitating Israel's settler-colonization of Palestinian land.  

Escalating violence and siege

Since the ruling in first instance, the situation on the ground has only worsened. Despite multiple breaches of the ceasefire agreement since it was established in mid-January, Israel escalated its bombing campaign on Gaza on 18 March 2025. In a single night of attacks last week Tuesday, more than 400 Palestinians were killed as Israeli air raids struck residential areas while people slept. Palestinians in Gaza continue to face mass displacement and systematic destruction of vital infrastructure. Simultaneously, Israel continues to enforce a total blockade, cutting off all food, medicine, fuel, electricity, and other essential supplies to Gaza’s population of approximately two million Palestinians. Meanwhile in the West Bank, settler and military violence has surged to unprecedented levels, with large areas of Palestinian land confiscated and entire communities forcibly removed. 

Call for judicial enforcement of international law

Through this appeal, the coalition is calling on the Dutch judiciary to enforce international law and bring the State’s conduct in line with its legal obligations. This includes the suspension of active arms export licenses to Israel and ordering the Dutch State to take active steps to prevent trade relationships between Dutch companies and the unlawful Israeli settlements. The appeal hearing is expected to take place in the coming months. In the interim, the coalition will continue to push for concrete legal and political action to prevent further atrocities and ensure that international law is upheld in practice. 

Issam Younis, Al Mezan’s General Director, remarked: “The genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza is far from over. In the past week alone, Israel has flagrantly violated the ceasefire agreement and killed hundreds of Palestinians, including children, while intensifying its ongoing campaign of collective punishment and slow death through starvation and the deliberate denial of life-sustaining services to over two million Palestinians. It is both unconscionable and legally indefensible that, in the face of such grave and persistent violations of international law, the Netherlands continues to engage with Israel as though it were business as usual.” 

Christiaan Alberdingk Thijm, lawyer for the coalition, remarked: “The Dutch State must do its part to end Israel's human rights violations. The passive attitude of our government is a disgrace. By granting licences for military and dual-use goods, the Netherlands is contributing to the genocide being committed by Israel. This must stop.”       

ENDS 

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