Dutch court rejects bid to stop arms exports to Israel

THE HAGUE - A Dutch court on Friday rejected a bid by 10 pro-Palestinian NGOs to stop the Netherlands exporting weapons to Israel and trading with Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories.

The Hague district court stressed that the state has some leeway in its policies and courts should not rush to step in.

"The interim relief court finds that there is no reason to impose a total ban on the export of military and dual-use goods on the state," it said in a statement.

The plaintiffs, citing high civilian casualties in Israel's war in the Gaza Strip, had argued that the Dutch state, as a signatory to the 1948 Genocide Convention, has a duty to take all reasonable measures at its disposal to prevent genocide.

The NGOs cited a January order to Israel by the International Court of Justice to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza.

Israel says accusations of genocide in its Gaza campaign are baseless and that it is solely hunting down Hamas and other armed groups who threaten its existence and hide among civilians, something the groups deny.

The judges at the Hague district court sided with the Dutch state, which had said it continually assesses the risk of arms and dual-use goods exported to Israel being used in a way that could lead to violations of international law, and that it occasionally refuses certain exports.

In a ruling in a separate case in February, a Dutch court ordered the government to block all exports of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel over concerns they were being used to violate international law during the war in Gaza. The government has appealed that ruling.  

(Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg; Editing by Frances Kerry)