UK court: Palestinian NGO can’t appeal ruling that allows sale of F-35 parts to Israel
Al-Haq group sought to challenge exemption from partial arms embargo, which court said was for government to decide; Dutch court threw out similar case this month
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LONDON — A Palestinian NGO was on Wednesday refused permission to appeal a court ruling that Britain lawfully allowed F-35 fighter jet parts to be indirectly exported to Israel, despite accepting they might be used to breach international humanitarian law.
Al-Haq unsuccessfully challenged Britain’s Department for Business and Trade over its decision last year to exempt F-35 components when it suspended export licenses for arms that could be used in the war in the Gaza Strip.
The group last month asked the Court of Appeal for permission to challenge a lower court ruling that found Britain’s decision was lawful and dismissed Al-Haq’s challenge.
The Court of Appeal refused permission, ruling that it was a matter for the government to decide whether national security issues relating to the supply of F-35 components outweighed an assessment that Israel was not committed to complying with international humanitarian law, a charge Israel denies.
When it suspended export licenses in 2024, Britain assessed that Israel was not committed to complying with such law in its military campaign, which was launched after the Hamas terror group invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
But Britain did not suspend licenses for British-made F-35 components, which go into a pool of spare parts Israel can use on its existing F-35 jets.
London’s High Court rejected the challenge in June, saying in its ruling that then-business minister Jonathan Reynolds was “faced with the blunt choice of accepting the F-35 carve-out or withdrawing from the F-35 program and accepting all the defense and diplomatic consequences which would ensue.”
The Court of Appeal heard Al-Haq’s application for permission to appeal as Israel and Hamas signed a hostage release-ceasefire agreement last month.
In a similar case earlier this month, a Dutch appeals court confirmed a decision to throw out a case brought by activist groups to stop the Netherlands exporting weapons to Israel and trading with Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Israel has acted against al-Haq in the past, designating it a terrorist organization over its alleged links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a terror group.
The Times of Israel Community.