Israeli stands at Paris airshow are shut down ‘by order of French government’ | Weapons technology

The four main Israeli company in The Paris Airshow was closed after the exhibitors refused to remove some weapons from the show.

A source told the Guardian newspaper that the stands at the aviation industry event were hidden from view after pressure on the organizers from the French government.

The stands are used by Elbit Systems, Rafael, IAI and UVISION. Three smaller Israeli positions, which did not have exhibited agencies, and the position of the Israeli Ministry of Defense remains open. The atmosphere is displayed amid an escalation The conflict in the Middle East.

Reuters reported that the instructions came from the French authorities after the Israeli companies failed to comply with the guidance of a French security agency to remove offensive or kinetic weapons from the stands.

The show, which was held for the first time in 1909 and organized by the French Aviation Industry Association, is held in Le Bourget, in the northeast ParisFrom Monday to Sunday.

France, a long ally of Israel, gradually hardening its position in the government of Benjamin Netanyahu on its actions in Gaza and military strikes abroad. French President, Emmanuel Macron, last Friday, repetition His country’s support for Israel’s right to protect itself, but in reference to its strikes against Iran, he called for “all parties to exercise the maximum self -control and to cancel the escalation.”

The Israeli Ministry of Defense said that it refused to remove some arms systems from the display screens, and that the organizers of the exhibitions responded through the establishment of a black section that separates the Israeli industrial wings from others.

The ministry said: “This unprecedented and unprecedented decision on policy-based considerations. The French are hiding behind the supposed political considerations to exclude Israeli offensive weapons from an international exhibition-weapons competing with French industries.”

IAI and CEO, Boaz Levy, said that the black sections reminded us of “the dark days when the Jews were divided from European society,” according to Reuters.

Earlier on Monday, the photos taken by Agence France -Presse were the yellow writing on one of the black walls around the stands. I read: “Behind these walls are the best defense systems that many countries use. These systems protect the State of Israel these days.

Later, the black wall section appears to have been replaced by a white wall.

Two American Republican politicians who attended the air garbage also criticized this step.

Speaking to journalists outside the wet Israeli defense stalls, Republican ruler Sarah Hakabi Sanders described the decision as “somewhat ridiculous”, and Republican Senator Katie Brett criticized “short -sighted”.

Sasson practitioner, first vice president at Elbit Systems, accused France From an attempt to hold a competition, referring to a series of contracts that Elbit has won in Europe. “If you cannot overcome them in technology, then you only need to hide them, right? This is because there is no other explanation.”

The company, Rafael, described the move as “unprecedented, unjustified, and political motives.”

AirShow said he was in talks to try to help “different parties to find a favorable result of the situation.”