León Castellanos-Jankiewicz on Dutch arms exports to Israel: ‘All weapons are used to gain military advantage, and all can be misused’

International legal expert León Castellanos-Jankiewicz (Asser Institute/University of Amsterdam), was recently interviewed by journalists from the investigative platforms Follow the Money and The Investigative Desk about the Dutch arms export policy. The story, published this morning, sheds light on how the Netherlands has increasingly relaxed its interpretation of international rules on military exports to Israel, despite ongoing conflicts in the region.

According to new data obtained by The Investigative Desk and Follow the Money, the Dutch policy on arms exports, once rooted in restraint, appears to be shifting. For years, due to international rules on arms exports, the Netherlands was reluctant to export military goods to Israel, including through transit and transshipment.

That stance was in line with international and European obligations: exports of military goods must be stopped if there is a clear or overriding risk that they will fuel a conflict, or be used in human rights and international humanitarian law violations by the recipient country. 

Millions in arms exports
According to the investigative report, the Netherlands has become increasingly lenient on this criterion. In 2022, under the last Rutte administration, the Netherlands exported over 10 million euros worth of military products, ten times more than in previous years. Even after the most recent outbreak of war with Gaza, the Netherlands continued to issue export licences to Israel.

Between 7 October 2023 and the end of September 2024, the Netherlands authorised the export of 2.5 million euros worth of military goods to Israel including parts for military robots and marine vessels.

Some countries, including the U.S. and Germany, justify their voluminous supply of military material to Israel on the grounds that they mainly transfer defensive equipment, implying that controls should be less stringent. In the story, Castellanos-Jankiewicz explains that international law does not distinguish between offensive and defensive weapons. “All weapons are used to gain military advantage, and all can be misused,” he states. In that sense, there is no difference between exporting components for the Iron Dome or for F-35 fighter jets, he argues. “But states may differentiate between offensive and defensive weapons in their national legislation.”

Only the parts for the F-35 fighter jets are currently no longer allowed to be exported by the Netherlands: in February this year, the court in The Hague put a stop to this export licence. The court found that the government had ignored signals of serious violations of humanitarian law of war, when they should have been reason to stop exports.

Read the full story (in Dutch).

Read more
[HILAC lecture - 26 November] The F-35 parts export case: International legal implications
On 12 February 2024, the Appeals Court of The Hague ruled that the Netherlands should, within seven days, stop all export and transit of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel. The court found that there was a clear risk that Israel’s F-35s will be used in serious violations of international humanitarian law in the ongoing armed conflict in Gaza. After the judgment, the Dutch state announced that it would appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, and the hearing in this case took place on 6 September. Join us on Tuesday 26 November (19.00 hrs) at the Asser Institute for a free HILAC lecture on these ongoing proceedings and their wider international legal implications. Please note that this event will not be recorded. Read more.

[Blog post] Dutch court halts F-35 aircraft deliveries to Israel
Citing a “clear risk” of abuse, the Hague Court of Appeal has ordered the Dutch government to stop delivering F-35 aircraft components to Israel. Asser Institute researcher León Castellanos-Jankiewicz is following the case and provides his analysis of the 12 February decision. As he stated in a recent interview with Al-Jazeera: “the judgment underlines the urgency for further transparency in the arms trade.” Read more.   

About León Castellanos-Jankiewicz
León Castellanos-Jankiewicz is senior researcher in International Law at the Asser Institute, and supervisor of the International Law Clinic on Access to Justice for Gun Violence at the University of Amsterdam Faculty of Law. León is part of the Asser Institute research strand ‘In the public interest: accountability of the state and the prosecution of crimes’. His work focuses on the human rights implications of irresponsible arms trade and the history of public and private international law.

Castellanos-Jankiewicz regularly advises governments on arms export policies, and leads the project on 'Enabling Civil Society Efforts to Address the Misuse, Diversion and Abuse of Arms Exports in Latin America' within the Asser Institute, which was awarded a competitive grant by the U.S. State Department (2023-2025). 

Op-eds
European arms manufacturers are virtually untouchable in court. That has to change, NRC, 8 August, 2023 (in Dutch).

The armor of the European arms industry, El País, 31 July, 2023.