'What can we say to make it look like Israel is not committing war crimes?': Dutch prime minister

The outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte asked the country's legal affairs ministry: "What can we say to make it look like Israel is not committing war crimes?"

The revelations have only recently come to light and were reported by NRC, the newspaper of record in the Netherlands. 

A group of government officials and diplomats has submitted evidence to The Hague regarding comments made by the Dutch prime minister. 

In November last year, the Netherlands decided to continue deliveries of parts for Israeli fighter jets despite official warnings that Israel may be committing "serious violations of humanitarian law of war".

According to NRC, Rutte's intervention in support of Israel is driven by his own political ambitions and the need to appeal to the US administration, in the hope that he succeeds Jens Stoltenberg as secretary general of Nato next summer.