The Paris Air Show is the world’s largest aviation trade fair, and it kicked off today. While I mainly cover the commercial aviation side of this, there’s also a military aspect to the event. Along those lines, the biggest headline coming out of the event today doesn’t involve Riyadh Air’s A350 order or LOT Polish Airlines’ A220 order, but instead, conflict over Israeli displays.
France blocks Israeli weapons stands at Paris Air Show
France has today shut down the display stands of the main Israeli defense companies at the Paris Air Show, including for Elbit Systems, Rafael, IAI, and Uvision. However, the parties disagree as to how reasonable this decision was, and whether this was communicated in advance.
French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou claims to have told all exhibitors ahead of the event that offensive weapons would be prohibited from display, and claims that Israel’s embassy in Paris had agreed to this. He claims that Israeli companies violated the rules, and they could resume their exhibits if they comply with this requirement.
Bayrou told reporters that this decision was made based on France’s diplomatic stance, and in particular, its “very great concern about Gaza.” Therefore the government felt it was unacceptable to show attack weapons at the show.
The booths were shut down by large black partitions being placed in front of them. It’s worth noting that smaller Israeli stands, which didn’t have hardware on display, plus the Israeli Ministry of Defense stand, remained open.
One Israeli company, Elbit Systems, responded to the decision to put up a black partition by writing text on it — “OUR PRODUCTS ARE SO GOOD THAT THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT DOESN’T WANT YOU TO SEE THEM.”
Israel calls decision outrageous and unprecedented
Israel’s defense ministry is calling this decision “outrageous and unprecedented,” and states that “the decision reeks of policy-driven and commercial considerations.” The ministry went on to add that “the French are hiding behind supposedly political considerations to exclude Israeli offensive weapons from an international exhibition — weapons that compete with French industries.”
That’s a key point, because Israel seems to think that France is just trying to avoid competition. The ministry is filing court petitions against the decision, and claims that the black partitions that were placed in front of these displays are reminiscent of “the dark days of when Jews were segmented from European society.”
Bezhalel Machlis, CEO of Elbit Systems, one of the exhibitors, said the following:
“Sixty years after Elbit Systems was founded — on the eve of the Six-Day War and in the shadow of the French arms embargo — we are once again witnessing a blatant and aggressive act by the French Government. This embarrassing attempt to ‘conceal’ Elbit Systems’ groundbreaking technology behind a fictitious cover will prove futile — just as it did 60 years ago.”
“Our world-leading technology continues to prove itself operationally and commercially, with growing demand across Europe and beyond. Elbit Systems remains committed to global leadership, innovation, and partnership. ‘But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread.’ (Exodus 1:12)”
Bottom line
An Israeli weapons display at the Paris Air Show is causing a bit of a diplomatic spat. France claims that it warned vendors that they couldn’t display certain weapons, and that the Israeli embassy agreed to that. Israel largely denies this, and claims that France is simply trying to protect its own industries, and avoid competition.
This is now even being litigated, but for the time being, the displays have been blocked off. Talk about some drama…
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