Name: Israel furious as France shuts weapons stands at Paris Air Show | DW News
Uploaded: 2025-06-17T17:33:59.000Z
Duration: 5 min 57 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Israel's Defense Ministry says it's outraged over a decision by France to shut down several Israeli company stands at the Paris Air Show. France said the exhibitors refused to remove attack weapons from display.

It's the largest event of its kind and showcases the latest innovations in the aerospace industry. But away from the big money deals for commercial aircraft,

Basic passive voice

Israel's ongoing war in Gaza is causing consternation, after four of its exhibitors were hidden from view.

The French government's position is very simple.

It is that no offensive weapons of war are allowed in the air show.

Defensive weapons of war are completely fine, but displaying weapons that are offensive is not possible.

Israel's Defense Ministry said it rejected a request to remove some weapons on display and that the move reeks of commercial considerations.

One tech chief called the decision outrageous and questioned France's commitment to democracy after security attempted to hide a pro-Israeli message.

Half an hour ago, one of our employees wrote on these walls that behind them there are the best air defense systems in the world, used by many countries, and also in our war against Iran nowadays.

She was consequently removed from the show by the French government, and what she wrote was covered by the French government.

I guess this is a fine display of democracy by the French.

France is just one of Israel's allies that has begun to voice criticism of its actions in Gaza in recent weeks. The air show's organizer said in a statement that it was in talks to try and find a favorable outcome to the ongoing situation.

Let's bring in journalist Daniel Brown. He's been following the story from Paris.

Daniel, French officials say Israeli authorities were made aware of the terms of the exhibition, namely no offensive weapons. We heard it there in the report weeks ago. Israel denies that. Who is right?

That allegation really does fly in the face of statements by both the organizers at the Bourget air show and, as you just showed, Prime Minister François Beyrou, who visited the show just a few hours ago. He said all participants have been warned that such exhibits were prohibited in advance, and he insisted that some of the missiles displayed by the Israeli companies really were being used in the onslaught on Gaza. And he repeated that the massacres that we are witnessing in Gaza are just morally unacceptable, quote-unquote. And such closures at the air show, he continued, marked the anger and the distance that France has been sharing with its Israeli counterparts for a number of weeks. And finally, you have to know that public sentiment here regarding the Gaza tragedy continues to grow. There are large and vocal protests in the streets putting pressure on the Macron government, and it shows.

What do you make of Israel's claim, then, that this could be based on what they call commercial considerations?

The shutdown of Israeli stands at the Paris air show is not a first, it's true.

It follows previous actions around military hardware, such as, for example, France's ban on Israeli companies participating in the Euro-Satori defense exhibition last year.

And as you said, you have Israeli officials accusing France of commercially motivated discrimination aimed at excluding Israeli defense firms from the European market for their own benefits. Israeli executives from the affected companies have echoed this sentiment.

There was one CEO comparing the black partitions that were shown in the report erected around their booths at Bourget to historical instances of discrimination against Jews in Europe. And you can imagine what he was referring to.

France has started to voice criticism over Israel's actions in Gaza. You mentioned it before. How do you think this latest disagreement will affect diplomatic relations between them?

It seems to indicate a shift in France's approach to its defense relations with Israel.

Over the past months, France has increasingly criticized the onslaught on Gaza, recognized by the International Court of Justice as genocidal. However, President Emmanuel Macron on Friday decided to postpone a crucial UN conference on a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine, in which he had indicated that France would recognize the state of Palestine. So, his own to-ing and fro-ing on this question does reflect his own ambiguous position on this question.

That's journalist Daniel Brown reporting from Paris. Thanks so much.