France Bars Israel From Eurosatory Defense Show

Israel’s government has described a French government decision to bar Israel’s defense ministry from taking part in the upcoming Eurosatory defense show as “disgraceful.”

The Israeli defense ministry will be unable to participate or set up a national pavilion at the event in Paris on June 15-19, the French government has decided.

Israeli defense companies will be allowed to participate, but will only be allowed to display air defense products. Offensive systems are excluded.

In a sharply worded statement, the Israeli defense ministry said the decision to exclude the organization “reeks of political and commercial calculation.

“It fits a deeply troubling pattern in French conduct in recent years—a pattern that has consistently placed France on the wrong side of history,” it said.

The policy of only allowing Israeli companies to present air defense products was also denounced, with officials saying it was in “direct violation of the established norms governing international defense exhibitions.”

The French government has expressed anger at Israel’s ongoing military operations in Lebanon and its previous activities in Gaza, while Israel declared earlier this year it would no longer purchase defense equipment from France.

It is not the first time Israel has been halted from displaying at French defense shows. At last year’s Paris Air Show, Israeli companies withdrew from the show on the opening day when French authorities placed limits on what the Israeli companies could display. Authorities built wooden walls around the Israeli exhibits when the companies did not comply.

The Israeli defense ministry claimed that Paris was “hiding behind a pretense of political justification to exclude Israeli offensive defense systems from an international forum.”