Israeli Exhibitors Shrouded in Black Cloth at French Arms Fair Getty Images

A top global arms fair erected black walls around Israeli exhibitors overnight before the event opened, leading to Jerusalem accusing Paris of “hiding behind supposedly political considerations” to give their own domestic arms companies a leg-up.

Israeli defence contractors including Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Elbit Systems were subjected to a massive cover-up at the Paris Air Show, one of the most important global arms fairs, this week. The Times of Israel relates that after exhibitors had set up their stands ready for the air show to open organisers moved overnight to segregate Israeli firms from the rest of the show with black cloth-covered walls a day before the event opened to delegates.

The Israeli Ministry of Defence said in a statement that the organisers of the Paris Air Show had demanded Israeli companies remove from display certain “offensive” weapons, “contrary to what is customary at defense exhibitions around the world”.

Accusing the French of seeking to boost their own defence firms’ standing at the show by hiding the competition. They said: “The French are covering themselves up with a so-called political consideration in order to exclude Israeli offensive weapons from an international exhibition, which competes with industries from France. This is especially in light of the impressive and precise performance demonstrated by Israeli technologies in Iran.”

On Monday, the French Prime Minister defended the move, arguing it wasn’t right to show arms at an arms fair. He is reported to have said: “The French government’s position was very simple: no offensive weapons at the arms exposition… Defensive weapons were perfectly acceptable.”

He continued: “Given the situation in Gaza… which is extremely serious from a humanitarian and security point of view, France was keen to make it clear that offensive weapons should not be present at this exposition”.

France is a major centre for the global arms industry and the latest stunt at the Paris Air Show is part of a years-long campaign by Paris to exclude Israeli exhibitors. As previously reported, in May 2024 Israeli companies were banned from attending Eurosatory, a major land warfare defence event.

Private Israeli citizen visitors to the show were even required to sign a declaration stating they weren’t secret employees of Israeli defence firms. These rules were overturned by a Paris court but only after the show had already begun, giving Israeli businesses no time to exhibit.

Months later, Israeli companies that had been registered to attend the major Euronaval arms fair had restrictive conditions unexpectedly imposed.

According to those conditions, while Israeli businesses would be allowed in the building, they would not have been permitted to erect a stand or display any equipment, the point of a trade fare. As stated then: “French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told parliament that promoting arms used in Gaza and Lebanon would undermine France´s diplomatic efforts.”

Again these conditions were overturned by a Paris court, this time with days to go before the event opened.

These bids by France to freeze Israel out of the global arms industry came as the nation’s President Emmanuel Macron sought to lead an embargo on arms exports to Israel altogether. He said in October 2024: “I think that today, the priority is that we return to a political solution, that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza”.

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