Israeli defense industry exhibitions have been covered in black partition walls at the prestigious Paris Air Show, after reportedly failing to comply with a directive to remove offensive weapons from being displayed.
Israel’s Defense Ministry posted up a statement on social media along with pictures, showing Israeli defense company stands sealed off with black walls, preventing anyone from seeing what lay behind the walls.
Rafael, Elbit and IAI produce guided bombs and missiles, while Uvision and Aeronautics produce drones.
Pictures posted up along with a statement by the Defense Ministry showed various weapons systems on display.
Israel accuses France of ‘ugly and improper’ behaviour
The incident comes as Israel trades deadly airstrikes with Iran and almost two years into its campaign in Gaza, which has killed more than 55,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
“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 said in a statement Monday, calling the action “ugly and improper.”
The Reuters news agency cited a source familiar with the matter as saying the instruction to seal off the exhibits came from French authorities after Israeli firms failed to comply with a directive from a French security agency to remove offensive or kinetic weapons from the stands.
Israel’s Defense Ministry said its director general, Amir Baram, had rejected the request.
In a statement, the ministry called the move an “unprecedented decision, that gives off the scent of political and commercial considerations.”
Sylvain Pavillet, a lawyer working with the air show organizers, said the final decision on who is allowed to exhibit lies with the French government, not the show itself.
“The fair is not the one who decides which countries are allowed to go to the show or not,” he told the Associated Press.
“That decision belongs to the government. We are not a state. We are a commercial company.”
Organizers still seeking ‘favourable outcome’
While there has been no immediate comment from the French government regarding any move to block Israeli exhibitions, the air show’s organiser said in a statement that it was in talks to try to help “the various parties find a favourable outcome to the situation.”
Friday saw a French appeals court rule against activists who had been seeking to block Israeli companies from participation at the show due to the ongoing war in Gaza.
In recent weeks, French President Emmanuel Macron warned that a tougher position against Israel may be needed in light of the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Macron at the time warned that France would even consider sanctioning Israeli settlers.
Edited by: Jenipher Camino Gonzalez
