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Some European countries say they are stalling arms exports to Israel amid growing concerns over the way Israel is waging war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, while the U.S. Senate on Tuesday announced further Passed a $95 billion foreign aid package that included security assistance.
A Dutch court on Monday ordered the Dutch government to send F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel, citing a “clear risk” that the Israeli fleet is being used to commit serious violations of international law in the Gaza Strip. ordered that exports of the products must be stopped.
Three human rights organizations, including Oxfam, have filed a lawsuit with the Hague Court of Appeal seeking to overturn an earlier court ruling that allowed the Dutch government to continue exporting F-35 parts to Israel. In Monday’s ruling, the court ordered the government to halt such exports within seven days.
The ruling came after the foreign ministers of Italy and Spain recently announced that their countries had halted all arms sales to Israel since the war began in Gaza more than four months ago following Hamas attacks on Israel. . Belgium’s local government also announced that it had suspended two licenses to export gunpowder to Israel.
Concerns over continued arms exports to Israel come after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last month ordered Israel to “take every possible step” to comply with international law on genocide. . Although Israel vehemently rejects the allegations of genocide, the ICJ ruling has increased domestic pressure on many of Israel’s allies to more strongly criticize the humanitarian situation in Gaza and call for a ceasefire.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell suggested on Monday that the United States would cut arms supplies to Israel amid growing concerns about civilian casualties from the war. More than 28,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7, according to the Hamas-controlled enclave’s health ministry.
“If we think the number of deaths is too high, maybe we can do something to reduce the number of deaths,” Borrell told reporters in Brussels. “The European Union does not provide weapons to Israel. Neither do others.”
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday approved a foreign aid package that includes $14.1 billion in security assistance for Israel, Gaza civilian aid and additional aid to Ukraine, setting up a showdown with the House of Representatives as Speaker Mike Johnson criticized the bill. It became.
But despite US support for Israel, President Joe Biden is growing dissatisfied with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu behind the scenes, CNN reported. Biden said last week that he believed Israel’s operations in Gaza were “overreach,” one of his harshest condemnations yet of the war with Hamas.
The United States has long been the largest arms supplier to Israel, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), and its support has declined despite mounting political pressure on the Biden administration over the Gaza attack. in the process of.
A Dutch court on Monday said Israel had not “sufficiently taken into account the consequences of attacks on civilians” in the Gaza Strip and ordered the Netherlands to stop exporting F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel within a week. ordered to stop. The government said it would appeal the decision.
“In the government’s view, the distribution of American-made F-35 parts is not illegal. The government believes that it is up to nations to determine their foreign policy,” the statement said.
The ruling came during a meeting in Israel between Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Israeli war minister Benny Gantz. Gantz said it was unclear whether the ban on parts exports from the Netherlands would affect overall supplies to Israel, but said the court’s decision “undermines the world and Israel’s obligation to fight terrorism.”
Abil Sultan/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
On February 12, 2024, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte met with Israeli Minister Benny Gantz at the Knesset in Jerusalem.
The American-made F-35 fighter jet is the Israeli Air Force’s “workhorse asset,” said Justin Bronk, a senior research fellow in air power and technology at the London-based think tank Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).
“But while the F-35 is their most capable asset in attacking Gaza, it doesn’t really matter,” Bronk told CNN. Unlike Lebanon, Syria, and Iran, “there is no air defense threat per se over Gaza,” Bronk said, meaning Israel could use older, cheaper aircraft such as F-16s and F-15s for most of its attacks on Gaza. He said this means it can be carried out by fighter jets. , as well as drones.
“Even if we had to stop flying the F-35 completely, the impact on the Israeli Air Force’s ability to conduct these types of attacks against targets in the Gaza Strip would be negligible,” Bronk said. Stated.
And if the Dutch government follows the court’s decision, Bronk said, it could also impede the activities of the Netherlands’ own military.
The F-35 jet is maintained by a global supply chain designed to avoid having large quantities of parts stored in any one country. Instead, manufacturing takes place in multiple countries and warehouses are located around the world. The Autonomous Logistics Information System (ALIS), developed by manufacturer Lockheed Martin, manages transportation between countries to ensure everyone has the parts they need, when they need them.
“Characterizing these as export sales of components to Israel is not how this system works,” Bronk said, adding that the court’s ruling does not allow for any further changes in the sustainability chain “without breaking important provisions.” He added that it is “difficult” to see if it will be implemented.
“If the Netherlands said, “We’re putting conditions on where parts stored or manufactured in the Netherlands can go in the global supply chain,” the organizing U.S. joint program office would say, “Well, yeah. ‘If so, good luck getting parts for the Dutch Air Force’s F-35 fleet,” Bronk said.
Meanwhile, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told local media late. Italy announced in January that it had suspended all arms exports to Israel starting October 7. Italian watchdog organization Pagela Politica said Italian companies sold weapons worth about 120 million euros (about $129 million) to Israel in the 10 years ending in 2022.
Spanish Foreign Minister José Alvarez also said in late January that Spain had also suspended arms sales to Israel in October. However, Spanish news outlet El Diallo reported on Sunday that Spain exported 987,000 euros ($1.1 million) worth of ammunition to Israel in November, despite Alvarez’s claims that there was an embargo. Reported. Human rights group Amnesty International has called on the Spanish government to make export data publicly available.
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