Israel furious as France shuts weapons stands at Paris Air Show
France shut down the main Israeli company stands at the International Paris Air Show on Monday for refusing to remove attack weapons from display, sparking a furious response from Israel and inflaming tensions between the traditional allies.
Stands including those of Elbit Systems, Rafael, IAI and Uvision were blocked off with black partitions before the start of the world's biggest aviation trade fair. Smaller Israeli stands, which did not have hardware on display, and an Israeli Ministry of Defense stand, remained open.
France, a long-time Israeli ally, has gradually hardened its position on the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over its actions in the Gaza Strip and military interventions abroad.
French President Emmanuel Macron made a distinction last week between Israel's right to protect itself, which France supports and could take part in, and strikes on Iran it did not recommend.
The office of French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said it had told all exhibitors ahead of the show that offensive weapons would be prohibited from display and that Israel's embassy in Paris had agreed to this. It added that the companies could resume their exhibits if they complied with this requirement.
Bayrou told reporters that given France's diplomatic stance, and "in particular its ... very great concern about Gaza," the government had felt it unacceptable for attack weapons to be on show.
But Israel's defense ministry reacted with fury.
"This outrageous and unprecedented decision reeks of policy-driven and commercial considerations," it said in a statement.
"The French are hiding behind supposedly political considerations to exclude Israeli offensive weapons from an international exhibition — weapons that compete with French industries."
The ministry later added it was filing court petitions against the decision.
IAI's president and CEO, Boaz Levy, said the black partitions were reminiscent of "the dark days of when Jews were segmented from European society."
Responding to France's timeline on the incident, a source familiar with the Israeli side said the French had agreed to a pre-submitted list of items from the Israelis before the show. Israel's delegation was caught "completely off guard" by guidelines at 6:30 p.m. on the eve of the show, the source added.
Two U.S. Republican politicians attending the air show also criticized the French move.
Talking to reporters outside the blacked-out Israeli defense stalls, U.S. Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders described the decision as "pretty absurd," while Republican Sen. Katie Britt criticized it as "short-sighted."
Meshar Sasson, senior vice president at Elbit Systems, accused France of trying to stymie competition, pointing to a series of contracts that Elbit has won in Europe.
"If you cannot beat them in technology, just hide them right? That's what it is because there's no other explanation," he said.
Rafael described the French move as "unprecedented, unjustified, and politically motivated."
The diplomatic row rocked the opening of the biennial show, already in sombre mood after the crash of a Boeing 787 and fresh conflict in the Middle East, with announcements scaled back.
Every two years, Le Bourget airport is transformed into a showcase for the aerospace and defense industries — its sprawling tarmac lined with fighter jets, airliners and drones and its spacious halls hosting high-tech gadgetry and weapons.
A person involved in the organizing and budgeting of large company displays over many years — not connected to the French or Israelis — said that a large stand could cost up to $5 million including all the cost of freight and staff travel.
The air show's organizer said in a statement that it was in talks to try to help "the various parties find a favourable outcome to the situation."
Bayrou's office urged Israeli firms to "assume their responsibilities" and follow guidelines if they wanted to reopen their booths. Toward the end of the first day of the June 16-20 event, there was no immediate sign of the stands being reopened.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Kyodo News
2 hours ago
- Kyodo News
Kyodo News Digest: June 19, 2025
KYODO NEWS - 23 hours ago - 23:00 | All, World, Japan The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News. ---------- Nippon Steel confident management freedom ensured in U.S. Steel deal TOKYO - Nippon Steel Corp.'s top executive Eiji Hashimoto said Thursday that the U.S. government's role set under its $14.1 billion buyout of United States Steel Corp. "will not hamper" the U.S. unit's business going forward. At a press conference in Tokyo, Hashimoto said $11 billion of investment in U.S. Steel operations -- 10 times more than the initial plan -- and a golden share issued to the U.S. government that allows it to veto key management decisions among other conditions are rational, even as analysts view them as downside risks to U.S. Steel's management. ---------- Japan PM Ishiba rules out lower house dissolution for now: lawmaker TOKYO - Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Thursday ruled out dissolving the powerful House of Representatives for now, ensuring that elections for both chambers of parliament will not be held on the same day in July, party executives said. The decision comes as Yoshihiko Noda, head of Japan's main opposition party, said he will not submit a no-confidence motion against Ishiba's Cabinet, arguing that such a move would stall progress on key political issues. ---------- Japan to send 2 defense force planes for possible Mideast airlift TOKYO - Japan will send two Self-Defense Forces airplanes to eastern Africa for a possible operation to evacuate its nationals from the Middle East, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said Thursday, amid the escalating Israel-Iran conflict. Nakatani told reporters that two C-2 transport aircraft with a total of about 120 crew members will fly to an SDF base in Djibouti and be on standby there, following a request from Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya earlier that day. ---------- Japan imperial couple commemorates A-bomb victims in Hiroshima HIROSHIMA - Japan's Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako on Thursday visited Hiroshima to pay their respects to atomic bomb victims ahead of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. In their first trip to the city since the emperor's accession in 2019, the imperial couple laid white flowers and bowed deeply at a cenotaph in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, which holds the names of around 340,000 victims of the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing. ---------- Chief organizer of Nobel Prize A-bomb survivors group steps down TOKYO - Sueichi Kido, 85, officially stepped down as secretary general of Japan's Nobel Peace Prize-winning atomic bomb survivors group Nihon Hidankyo at its annual meeting on Thursday due to ill health. Kido was 5 years old when he was exposed to the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in the final days of World War II. In 2017, he assumed the post that effectively leads the group's efforts to abolish nuclear arms and was among the delegation that accepted the Nobel Prize in Oslo in December. ---------- New Zealand pauses Cook Islands funding over deepening China ties SYDNEY - New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in funding to the Cook Islands, the government said Thursday, as relations between the two countries deteriorate over the South Pacific island nation's deepening ties with China. A spokesman for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand has paused NZ$18.2 million ($10.9 million) in development assistance funding for the 2025-2026 financial year, noting such support depends on a "high trust bilateral relationship." ---------- Kyodo News endorses executive director Sawai as president TOKYO - Kyodo News formally endorsed Executive Director Toshimitsu Sawai, who previously served as chief editor of the Foreign News Section, as its president on Thursday. At an organizational meeting, Sawai, 62, who became executive director in June 2021, said, "As the media environment grows increasingly challenging in many ways, I feel a strong sense of responsibility." ---------- Knife, armor from Japan's largest ancient keyhole-shaped tomb found OSAKA - A gold-plated iron knife and armor fragments, believed to have been made with advanced 5th-century techniques, have been confirmed as coming from Japan's largest ancient keyhole-shaped tomb mound, a university said Thursday. The Daisen Kofun in Osaka Prefecture is under control of the Imperial Household Agency as the mausoleum of Emperor Nintoku, who is said to have reigned in the 4th century, but academic debate continues about who was actually buried there. Video: Hydrangea festival at Kumano Nachi Taisha shrine in western Japan
NHK
3 hours ago
- NHK
Israel, Iran continue attacks, nuclear facility in western Iran damaged
Concerns are growing that Israel and Iran will further escalate military action, as the clash between the two countries enters its second week. The Israeli military said on Friday that it conducted overnight airstrikes on dozens of targets in central Tehran, including research headquarters for nuclear weapons development, as well as missile production sites. Israel continues to attack nuclear facilities across Iran. The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Friday that key buildings at an inactive nuclear reactor facility in Khondab, western Iran, were damaged. Satellite images taken by US company Maxar Technologies show the damage at the site, which is believed to have been attacked on Wednesday evening. The white reactor building in the pre-attack image appears in the post-attack image to be burned, with a hole at its center. Some of the buildings around the reactor are completely destroyed. The Reuters news agency has reported that the nuclear facility's infrastructure has been damaged. Israeli media reported that seven people sustained minor injuries after an Iranian missile hit a residential district in the southern city of Beersheba. Attention is on whether the United States will attack an underground nuclear facility in Fordow, central Iran, with a "bunker buster" bomb, which can strike a target deep below ground level. Israel reportedly requested military intervention by the US. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a domestic TV station on Thursday that the country is capable of attacking the Fordow site without US involvement.
NHK
3 hours ago
- NHK
Iran, France, Germany, UK, EU to hold nuclear talks in Geneva soon
The French, German and British foreign ministers and the European Union's foreign policy chief are to meet with their Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, in Switzerland. The French government says the meeting is expected to be held in Geneva on Friday afternoon. This comes amid the conflict between Israel and Iran. Israel has been striking nuclear-related facilities and other targets in Iran. US President Donald Trump has indicated he will decide within two weeks whether to take military action against Iran. The European side has expressed concerns about Iran's nuclear development, saying the program significantly exceeds the level of peaceful use. It calls on Iran to seek a diplomatic solution. At the meeting, the European officials will urge Iran to return to the negotiating table. EU officials say the meeting will take place in coordination with the US.
