Legal Cases Go to Battle Over Arming Israel
(Photo : Photo by CHRISTOPHE ENA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) greets French President Emmanuel Macron before a meeting in Jerusalem last year.

Eleven peace and human rights organizations in Paris, including Amnesty International France and Attac, have filed legal cases this week to demand that France halt its arms deliveries to Israel

German human rights lawyers have also initiated legal action against their government, asking the Berlin administrative court to suspend the German government's decision to send 3,000 anti-tank weapons to Israel.

Human rights violations and the deaths of innocent civilians in Gaza are at the root of legal actions.

It was revealed last month that France in October sold Israel spare parts for machine guns that could be used in Gaza, according to Politico

French Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu countered that "it's a license only for re-export" to other customers.

Over the past week, the NGOs filed three separate cases with the Paris administrative court. 

One legal case targets an arms export license for ML3 ammunition and fuze-setting devices.

Another seeks to suspend about 20 other licenses for weapon sights, bombardment calculators (ML5), and infrared or thermal imaging equipment (ML15). 

While the third case calls for suspending all export licenses for weapons and dual-use goods to Israel,. 

The court cases coincide with growing pressure on Western nations, like the U.K. and Germany, to stop selling weapons to Israel amid its ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip.

Canada, Spain and Belgium have pledged to stop supplying weapons to Israel, and a Dutch court banned the shipment of F-35 jet parts.

United States military aid to Israel reached at least 3.3 billion in 2023 and continues to increase. Germany reportedly approved arms exports worth €326.5 million, while Paris has exported €208 million worth of military equipment to the Israeli government over the past decade.