Le Bourget, France — Geopolitical tensions roiled the opening of the Paris Air Show on Monday as French authorities sealed off Israeli weapons industry booths amid the conflicts in Iran and Gaza, a move that Israel condemned as “outrageous.”
The decision added drama to the major aerospace industry event, which was already under the shadow of last week’s deadly crash of Air India’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Black walls were installed around the stands of five Israeli defense firms at the trade fair in Le Bourget, an airfield on the outskirts of Paris.
The booths displayed “offensive weapons” that could be used in Gaza – in violation of agreements with Israeli authorities, a French government source told AFP.
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The companies – Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Rafael, Uvision, Elbit and Aeronautics – make drones and guided bombs and missiles.
An Israeli exhibitor wrote a message in yellow chalk on one of the walls, saying the hidden defense systems “are protecting the state of Israel these days. The French government, in the name of discrimination is trying to hide them from you!”
French official says Israeli “offensive weapons” barred amid war in Gaza
French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou defended the decision during a Monday press conference at the air show.
“The French government’s position was very simple: no offensive weapons at the arms exposition,” he said. “Defensive weapons were perfectly acceptable.”
Bayrou cited the ongoing conflict in Gaza as the rationale behind the ban.
“Given France’s diplomatic choices, in particular the concern, or in any case, very great worries about Gaza, we could not not show that there was a certain distance, which meant that we did not think it acceptable that offensive weapons were in a show like that,” said Bayrou. “And as these offensive weapons were not withdrawn [by the Israeli companies], we have temporarily, I hope, closed the stands.”
At the last Paris Air Show in 2023, Israeli companies – including at least one that was subject to the closure of its stall on Monday – appear to have displayed offensive weapons, including laser-guided bombs and rockets and attack drones.
Aviation news outlet Flight Global reported from the show on Monday that, despite Bayrou’s description of a ban on displays of offensive weapons, “manufacturers from other countries are freely displaying a range of combat aircraft and munitions,” which it included a display by the French-owned company Dassault Aviation featuring a “French air force Rafale fighter surrounded by a range of strike munitions.”
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Israel calls France’s decision to close stalls “outrageous and unprecedented”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he was shocked by the “outrageous” closure of the pavilions and said the situation should be “immediately corrected.”
“Israeli companies have signed contracts with the organizers… it’s like creating an Israeli ghetto,” he said on French television channel LCI.
The Israeli defense ministry said in a statement that the “outrageous and unprecedented decision reeks of policy-driven and commercial considerations.”
“The French are hiding behind supposedly political considerations to exclude Israeli offensive weapons from an international exhibition – weapons that compete with French industries,” it said. “This is particularly striking given Israeli technologies’ impressive and precise performance in Iran.”
Israel launched surprise strikes on Iranian military and nuclear sites early on Friday, killing top commanders and scientists, prompting Tehran to hit back with a barrage of missiles.
Arkansas’ Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders was at the Paris show on Monday and, speaking with reporters, she called the French officials’ decision “pretty absurd.” Her father is Mike Huckabee, the current U.S. Ambassador to Israel and a staunch backer of the ongoing Israeli operations in Gaza.
The presence of Israeli firms at Le Bourget, though smaller than in the past, was already a source of tension before the start of the Paris Air Show, because of the conflict in Gaza.
A French court last week rejected a bid by NGOs to ban Israeli companies from Le Bourget over concerns about “international crimes.”
Local lawmakers from the Seine-Saint-Denis department hosting the event were absent during Bayrou’s visit to the opening of the air show in protest over the Israeli presence.
“Never has the world been so disrupted and destabilized,” Bayrou said earlier at a roundtable event, urging nations to tackle challenges “together, not against each other.”
Boeing focuses on support, not sales at Paris Air show after Air India crash
The row over Israel cast a shadow over a trade fair that is usually dominated by displays of the aerospace industry’s latest flying wonders, and big orders for plane makers Airbus and Boeing.
Airbus announced an order of 30 single-aisle A320neo jets and 10 A350F freighters by Saudi aircraft leasing firm AviLease. The European manufacturer also said Riyadh Air was buying 25 long-range, wide-body A350-1000 jets.
Boeing chief executive Kelly Ortberg last week cancelled plans to attend the biennial event, to focus on the investigation of the Air India crash.
“Our focus is on supporting our customers, rather than announcing orders at this air show,” a Boeing spokeswoman told AFP on Monday.
The London-bound Dreamliner crashed shortly after take-off in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, killing 241 passengers and crew and another 38 on the ground. One passenger survived.
