International human rights organizations, in conjunction with pro-Palestinian legal groups, have recently tried to change the policy through legal petitions to Denmark and the United Kingdom—two of the last European countries that have not yet declared an arms embargo on Israel. While the Danish parliament has previously firmly rejected a proposal to halt arms and spare parts exports to Israel, the new Labour government in the United Kingdom has indicated that it is considering imposing an arms embargo on Israel in the coming days.
The petitions are part of a legal battle that pro-Palestinian and human rights organizations in Europe have been waging against Israel since the outbreak of the war in Gaza. The most prominent organizations active in the struggle in Europe include Al-Haq, Amnesty International, Oxfam, and Human Rights Watch. The petitions also include local pro-Palestinian organizations.
The alliance’s first achievement was a ban imposed by a Dutch court last February on the supply of F-35 spare parts from the country’s military depots to Israel, over concerns that this would “expose the Netherlands to the risk of liability for war crimes in Gaza.”
In France, a legal coalition including some of these organizations succeeded in June, through a ruling by a local court in the regional city of Bobigny, in preventing anyone linked to Israeli defense companies from entering the Eurosatory arms fair.
“Israel has the right to defend itself”
While Italy, Spain, Belgium and other countries have voluntarily suspended defense exports to Israel because of the war, several countries on the continent have taken a different line. The Danish government has shown a relatively pro-Israel policy since the start of the war, due in part to its purchase of advanced weapons systems from Israel last year and the Scandinavian country’s close ties to the United States.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen have publicly stated that Israel “has the right to defend itself.” Frederiksen has even defended the country’s Jewish community after some pro-Palestinian demonstrations turned anti-Semitic.
At the end of May, the Danish parliament rejected by a large majority (84 votes to 11) a proposal by the opposition to stop the export of weapons and security equipment to Israel. In Denmark, the issue mainly concerns parts of the F-35 aircraft produced in the country, which have been exported to the Israeli Air Force in recent months.
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A previous petition filed by the organizations in Denmark was rejected, but in recent days a petition was filed in a civil court in Copenhagen, alleging that continuing to export parts for the F-35 aircraft used by the Israeli Air Force could “cause Denmark to be complicit in the commission of war crimes, contrary to its international obligations.”
The petitioners are asking the court to block this. Foreign Minister Rasmussen responded forcefully to the petition again, saying that the country’s courts “have no mandate” to determine whether the export of a particular part is a legitimate government activity. Rasmussen explained that “Denmark is not responsible” for arms exports that violate international law.
In challenging the Danish government’s position, Amnesty International argued, according to a report on the petition in the Danish newspaper Politiken, that Danish courts can and should verify that government policy is “in accordance with international law.” The Danish government’s legal position is that organizations have no standing to sue it in court. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, one of the defendants, has asked the court to dismiss the suit filed in recent days.
Testimonies from Gaza about the petition against arms exports
In the UK, the four leading organisations active on this issue in Europe have joined the Global Legal Action Network in petitioning the High Court, calling on the government to halt all military exports to Israel. Similar to the petition filed in Denmark, the petition also calls for a halt to the export of spare parts and components for F-35 aircraft, due to allegations of “committing war crimes and violations of international law” in Gaza.
The Guardian reported on Tuesday that the organizations are expected to present to the court testimonies from Western doctors who were in Gaza, as well as from local families affected by Israeli air force bombing.
The petitioners are seeking an immediate halt to British exports, which they say have already shrunk to just a few million pounds worth of defence equipment, compared with much larger sums in the past. The petition is expected to be heard between October 8 and 10.
The court hearing may be preceded by a government decision. British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who has visited Israel several times since taking office last month, said he had launched a “new legal inquiry” that would examine whether Israel was committing or suspected of committing war crimes as part of its war in Gaza. He told the media he did so on his first day in office in early July.
A positive answer to this question could prompt the British government to declare an arms embargo immediately.
Various reports in the British media in recent weeks have revealed that the UK Department of Trade has in fact frozen arms export applications on several occasions on the grounds that “the matter is under consideration.” However, the British government has stated in recent days that “there is no change in export policy towards Israel.”
This article was published in Globes, Israeli Business News – en.globes.co.il – on August 22, 2024.
© Copyright Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.
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