Protesters slam war profiteering, Israel at French air fair
The long-planned protest at the Paris Air Show outside the French capital also comes as Israel's war with Iran drags on into a ninth day, with Tehran threatening to hit back in force at Israel's offensive against its arch-rival.
The presence of Israeli defence firms at the show has already become a bone of contention, with the French government on Monday sealing off the booths of five Israeli firms on the grounds that they were displaying offensive weapons that could be used in Gaza.
"Their wars, their profits, our deaths, stop the genocide in Palestine," read the banner at the head of the march, which organisers claimed drew more than 4,000 protesters.
"As we speak, people are dying and our governments are not doing anything to stop it," Nora, 29, told AFP at the protest.
Draped in a Palestinian flag, the project leader in the pharmaceutical industry said that she felt "rage" at the footage coming out of Gaza, including that of "mothers kissing their dead children" in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Police have arrested seven people aiming to disrupt the trade fair, the Paris public prosecutor office said, with officers discovering a helium canister and nearly 200 balloons during the searches.
Six of the arrests were made on Friday and the other on Saturday, the prosecutor's office added.
Drawing some 100,000 visitors a day, the Paris Air Show at the Le Bourget airfield, nine kilometres (five miles) to the north of the capital, is usually dominated by displays of the aerospace industry's latest cutting-edge planes.
Advertisement
But Monday's shuttering of the stands of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Rafael, UVision and Elbit, as well as Aeronautics, which make drones and guided bombs and missiles, sparked a row with Israel.
Israel's President Isaac Herzog branded Paris's closure of the Israeli firms' booths "outrageous", comparing it to "creating an Israeli ghetto".
It came days after Israel, claiming Iran was on the verge of obtaining a nuclear bomb, launched a surprise barrage on June 13 which killed top Iranian commanders and nuclear scientists.
Tehran immediately hit back with a flurry of missiles, with the two countries trading wave after wave of devastating strikes since.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Euronews
an hour ago
- Euronews
Iran launches wave of missiles at Israel following US attack
Iran launched a wave of more than 40 missiles at northern and central Israel, leaving at least 86 people injured. The attack came just hours after Israel and the United States launched a coordinated attack on Iran, which included the bombing of three of its nuclear sites. Israel's health ministry reported that of those who arrived at hospitals, two people were moderately wounded and 77 others were in good condition. Israeli local media reported residential areas in Tel Aviv and the central town of Nes Ziona being struck. Tel Aviv's Deputy Mayor Haim Goren said that hundreds of homes were damaged in the attacks. Meanwhile in the northern city of Haifa, an IDF spokesperson said an Israeli air defence interceptor malfunctioned and crashed during the Iranian attack, causing damage and lightly wounding several people. Israel and Iran have been exchanging fire ever since Israel launched an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities on June 13. So far, at least 25 people have been killed in Israel, according to Israeli local media. In Iran, at least 430 people have been killed in Israeli strikes, according to the country's Health Ministry.
France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
US strikes on Iran: what we know
President Donald Trump had spent weeks pursuing a diplomatic path to replace the nuclear deal with Tehran that he tore up during his first term in 2018. But he ultimately decided to take military action against Iran's nuclear program, which had already been bombarded in a more than week-long Israeli campaign that has also targeted Tehran's top military brass. Below, AFP examines what we know about the US strikes on Iran -- an operation dubbed "Midnight Hammer." Major operation Caine told journalists the strikes involved more than 125 US aircraft including B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, fighters, aerial refueling tankers, a guided missile submarine and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft. "This mission demonstrates the unmatched reach, coordination and capability of the United States military," the general said. "No other military in the world could have done this." Caine said it was "too early" to comment on what remains of Iran's nuclear program, but that "initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction." B-2 bombers The US employed seven B-2s in the strikes -- aircraft that can fly 6,000 nautical miles (9,600 kilometers) without refueling and which are designed to "penetrate an enemy's most sophisticated defenses and threaten its most valued, and heavily defended, targets," according to the US military. "This was the largest B-2 operational strike in US history and the second-longest B-2 mission ever flown," according to Caine. Several B-2s proceeded west over the Pacific as a decoy while the bombers that would take part in the strikes headed east -- a "deception effort known only to an extremely small number of planners and key leaders," the general said. "Iran's fighters did not fly, and it appears that Iran's surface-to-air missile systems did not see us. Throughout the mission, we retained the element of surprise," Caine said. The United States used the B-2 in operations against Serbian forces in the 1990s, flying non-stop from Missouri to Kosovo and back, and the bombers were subsequently employed in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars in the 2000s. Massive Ordnance Penetrator Caine said the B-2s dropped 14 bombs known as the GBU-57 or Massive Ordnance Penetrator -- a powerful 30,000-pound (13,600-kilogram) bunker-busting weapon that made its combat debut in the Iran operation. The bombs -- which are designed to penetrate up to 200 feet (60 meters) underground before exploding -- were needed to hit deeply buried Iranian nuclear facilities. Testing of the weapons began in 2004 and Boeing was in 2009 awarded a contract to complete the integration of GBU-57 with aircraft. Tomahawk cruise missiles In addition to the bombers, a US guided missile submarine in the Middle East launched more than two dozen missiles at unspecified "surface infrastructure targets" at Isfahan, one of three nuclear sites struck in the operation, Caine said. The missiles are "designed to fly at extremely low altitudes at high subsonic speeds, and are piloted over an evasive route by several mission tailored guidance systems" and were first used in 1991 against Iraqi forces during Operation Desert Storm, according to the US military. Aim of the strikes US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told journalists the strikes were launched to "neutralize the threats to our national interests posed by the Iranian nuclear program and the collective self-defense of our troops and our allies." "This mission was not, has not been, about regime change," Hegseth told journalists. A number of key figures in Trump's "Make America Great Again" movement have vocally opposed US strikes on Iran, and his promise to extract the United States from its "forever wars" in the Middle East played a role in his 2016 and 2024 election wins. What comes next? Trump has called on Iran to "agree to end this war," saying that "now is the time for peace." But it remains to be seen whether the strikes will push Tehran to deescalate the conflict, or to widen it further. If Iran chooses the latter option, it could do so by targeting American military personnel who are stationed around the Middle East, or seek to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which carries one-fifth of global oil output.
Euronews
2 hours ago
- Euronews
'There is no red line that they have not crossed'
The US attacks on three nuclear sites in Iran "were carried out in coordination with the IDF." according to Israeli military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin on Sunday. "These actions mark a crucial step in stopping the Iranian regime's aggression and its ability to pose a threat to the region and the world. The regime's ability to threaten Israel is being dismantled piece by piece," said Defrin. The US military targeted the Iranian sites of Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz early on Sunday. In a televised address from the White House, US President Donald Trump said the sites had been "completely and fully obliterated". Trump also launched dozens of missiles from submarines without congressional approval. Neither Iran nor the UN nuclear watchdog have reported immediate signs of radioactive contamination near to the targeted facilities. It was a risky move meant to weaken a longtime enemy, even as Tehran has warned of revenge attacks that could lead to a wider conflict in the region. Iranian FM says "There is no red line that they have not crossed." Hours after the attacks, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters in Turkey: 'The warmongering, a lawless administration in Washington is solely and fully responsible for the dangerous consequences and far-reaching implications of its act of aggression.' He added: "They crossed a very big red line by attacking nuclear facilities". Araghchi condemned the attacks, saying that the time for diplomacy had passed and called on the UN Security Council for an emergency session. He also stated that under the principles of the UN Charter, Iran has the right to self-defence. Iran is a close ally to Russia The Iranian foreign minister plans to travel to Moscow on Monday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin 'We enjoy a strategic partnership and we always consult with each other and coordinate our positions'. Iran and Russia are close allies, and Tehran has kept it no secret that it has been helping Russia in its war on Ukraine, notably supplying it with attack drones. Meanwhile, Israel released footage claiming their attacks struck Iranian soldiers and missile launchers. The IDF said in a statement that 'missile launchers were struck in Isfahan, Bushehr and Ahvaz". It further explained that 'Strikes were also conducted on military sites involved in the production of aerial defence batteries, the 'Third Brigade' UAV command centre, and a UAV storage facility near the command centre,'. The US' decision to join the conflict follows more than a week of Israeli strikes on Iran. Israel says its goal is to destroy the country's air defences and missile systems, while also damaging its nuclear facilities.
