Prologue:
Today, a Dutch-led team of prosecutors from the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine released a report concluding that “the powerful surface-to-air missile system used to shoot down a Malaysia Airlines plane over Ukraine two years ago, killing all 298 on board, was trucked in from Russia at the request of Russian-backed separatists and returned to Russia the same night.”
The report largely confirmed the Russian government’s already widely documented role not only in the deployment of the missile system — called a Buk, or SA-11 — but also in the subsequent cover-up, which continues to this day.
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With meticulous detail, working with cellphone records, social media, witness accounts and other evidence, the prosecutors traced Russia’s role in deploying the missile system into Ukraine and its attempts to cover its tracks afterward. The inquiry did not name individual culprits and stopped short of saying that Russian soldiers were involved.
As the Times article discusses, Russia is doing everything in its power to discredit the investigation including releasing “radar images” that allegedly “irrefutably” refute the findings.
The day we were all Dutch:
Back in July 2014, the world united with the Dutch people in sharing the shock, grief and outrage for the unspeakable tragedy that once again befell this nation, “disproportionate to the small population and the tiny size of this remarkable nation,” including the between 102,000 and 104,000 Dutch Jews who were murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust— the highest percentage among Western European countries — and the more than 1,800 who drowned in February 1953 when a monster North Sea storm collapsed several dikes and flooded the “lowlands.
Reflecting on those tragedies, I wrote:
And once more, the loss of life suffered by the Dutch is disproportional to the population of that country.
Out of the 298 passengers on board the ill-fated flight, 193 were Dutch.
A particular sad and sobering statistic is the fact that the small, beautiful town of Hilversum — population 85,000 — lost 13 of its residents, three entire families, to the cowardly attack by thugs in Eastern Ukraine, or Russia.
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And so it goes in too many villages, towns and cities in “tiny Holland.”
The population of the Netherlands is close to 17 million today. It has grown almost ten-fold since the “Dutch Golden Age.”
But so has the resolve, the solidarity, the compassion and, in this instance, the grief of the Dutch people.
Today, the Netherlands received and honored the first 40 victims’ bodies from those fields in Ukraine.
They were brought to the Netherlands by two military aircraft — a Dutch and an Australian — and they were met by members of the Dutch royal family, Prime Minister Mark Rutte and hundreds of victims’ relatives.
Then, in 40 hearses, they left Eindhoven air base for the Korporaal van Oudheusden barracks south of Hilversum for identification.
Two more planes with more victims are due to arrive in the Netherlands on Thursday.
The nationalities of these first 40 victims are not yet known. Flags of all nations that lost their citizens in the disaster are flying at half-mast and churches all over the Netherlands are ringing their bells for the victims.
Thousands of Dutch people lined the route the hearses took, threw flowers, saluted — many shed tears.
To them all the victims brought to “tiny Holland” today are Dutch.
And tonight we are all Dutch.
Epilogue:
Two years later, after the damning findings of the investigation, will we all continue to be Dutch?
The Times raises a critical question: “But in implicating Russia, the report raised perhaps a bigger question: What does the Netherlands plan to do about that?”– and adds:
Russia, a nuclear-armed superpower, has already vetoed a Dutch-backed request to the United Nations to establish an international tribunal. Russia’s Constitution, in any case, prohibits the extradition of Russian citizens to stand trial abroad. And in the vanishingly unlikely event that suspects are handed over, it is unclear where they would stand trial.
The prosecutors’ findings could be a factor in whether the European Union softens sanctions against Russia, but some members are already chafing at their effect on trade and calling for resuming full economic cooperation.
Although very brave, the Netherlands is a very small country.
The Dutch people need the free world to once again declare, “We are all Dutch.”
Will we?
Lead photo by author
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The following is a State Department statement:
The United States welcomes the interim report of the Joint Investigation Team on the shoot down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17.
The Team’s interim findings corroborate Secretary Kerry’s statement in the days following the tragedy that MH17 was shot down by a BUK surface-to-air missile fired from Russian-backed, separatist-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine.
The Team found also that the BUK launcher was transported from Russia to separatist-controlled territory in Ukraine before the incident, and returned to Russia after the launcher was used to shoot down MH17.
While nothing can take away the grief of those who lost loved ones on that tragic day, this announcement is another step toward bringing to justice those responsible for this outrageous attack.
The United States will continue to work with the Joint Investigation Team in its investigation. We call on other states that are in a position to assist to cooperate fully so those responsible are held accountable.
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Added: Statement by the NATO Secretary General on MH-17 investigation
The downing of flight MH17 on July 17 2014 was a global tragedy which cost the lives of 298 people. As the UN Security Council has concluded, those responsible should be held accountable.
I welcome the first results of the investigation of the Joint Investigation Team, comprised of the investigation authorities from the Netherlands, Ukraine, Malaysia, Australia and Belgium. The report sheds light on the causes and circumstances of the downing of MH17.
The criminal investigation is still ongoing and will need the full cooperation of all states, in line with UN Security Council Resolution 2166, so that justice can be served. It is important that the investigators can continue conducting the investigation independently and thoroughly.
