French president Emmanuel Macron has done it again. Twelve Israeli defense companies that were going to exhibit at the prestigious Euronaval defense exhibition held between November 4 and November 7 have been barred from appearing. This is the second time that Macron has acted against Israel’s defense companies after they were kept away from the Eurosatory defense and security exhibition in June.
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74 Israeli defense companies had arranged to exhibit at Eurosatory, although a French court accepted a petition from them but ruling only on June 19 during the week of the exhibition, meaning it was too late for them to undertake preparations actually exhibit.
At Euronaval companies traditionally unveil new products and systems. At the previous exhibition in 2022, Israel Shipyards took advantage of the opportunity to present it S80 Corvette.
Euronaval, which has been held for the past 50 years, is this year expecting 300 companies to exhibit from 30 countries. While banning Israel, France is allowing Turkey to exhibit as well as companies from the US, Germany, Brazil, Finland, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, UK, Colombia, Denmark and Greece.
In addition to banning Israeli companies from Eurosatory and Euronaval, Macron has had harsh exchanges with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israeli actions in both Gaza and Lebanon.
Macron recently called for an arms embargo against Israel. But such a step, apart from the diplomacy aspect, is of no real importance to Israel’s conduct of the war. According to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), between 2019 and 2023 the US accounted for 69% of Israel’s defense imports, Germany 30%, and Italy 0.9%. France and the rest of the world together accounted for 0.1% of Israel’s defense imports.
Israel’s biggest defense companies Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Rafael, as well as SIBAT, the International Defense Cooperation (Export) Directorate at Israel’s Ministry of Defense (IMOD), received word of the French ban while exhibiting at the AUSA – Association of the United State Army exhibition in Washington D.C. this week. Israeli companies are still scheduled to appear the Paris Air Show in June 2025 but may have to rethink if the war continues well into next year.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on October 16, 2024.
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