Attendees stroll previous the closed Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Israeli Pavillon through the fifty fifth version of the Worldwide Paris Air Present on the ParisLe Bourget Airport, in Le Bourget, suburb of Paris on June 16, 2025.
Alain Jocard | Afp | Getty Photographs
The stands of at the very least two main Israeli protection companies had been blocked off to attendees on the Paris Air Present on Monday, in a transfer Israel stated was ordered by the French authorities following a dispute over the shows.
Boards had been positioned across the pavilions of companies together with Elbit Programs and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), which had been showcasing examples of army {hardware}. The cubicles of Rafael and Uvision had been additionally shuttered, in accordance with Reuters, though CNBC couldn’t independently confirm this report.
“Final night time, simply sooner or later earlier than the Paris Air Present opened in Le Bourget Airport, exhibition organizers appearing on behalf of the French authorities ordered the elimination of offensive weapons programs from Israeli protection business pavilions — breaking with commonplace observe at protection exhibitions worldwide,” Israel’s Protection Ministry stated in an announcement.
The ministry stated it had advised the air present organizers that it rejected the demand, and that the convention workers responded by erecting black partitions in a single day, blocking the pavilions for the beginning of the occasion Monday.
“This outrageous and unprecedented resolution reeks of policy-driven and business issues… The French are hiding behind supposedly political issues to exclude Israeli offensive weapons from a global exhibition – weapons that compete with French industries,” it stated.
CNBC has contacted the Paris Air Present organizers and the French authorities for remark.
A black wall blocks off the Israel aerospace pavilions, together with Elbit Programs Ltd., on the Paris Air Present in Paris, France, on Monday, June 16, 2025.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Photographs
Israeli protection companies have been selling new merchandise set to unveil on the Paris occasion — one of many greatest within the aviation world — reminiscent of Elbit’s PAWS-2 (HR) infrared missile warning system.
Protection is a significant focus in Paris this yr amid geopolitical tensions and pledges for increased European safety spending, together with comparatively subdued demand by business airways to put main new orders given present backlogs.
Different protection companies current on the present embody the U.S.’s Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, European missile producer MBDA and the Aviation Business Company of China, whereas tons of of army delegations are set to attend.
“Final night time, after our sales space was arrange and prepared for the present, we had been requested to take away a few of our programs from the sales space,” IAI’s President and CEO Boaz Levy stated in an announcement.
“We tried to barter with them, nevertheless it appears these orders got here from the best ranges in Paris,” Levy stated, including the corporate had obtained authorization to take part within the present and complied with organizers’ requests. The IAI crew was blocked from getting into the sales space, he famous.
Levy stated he was “shocked” by the choice and alleged discrimination.
The transfer comes amid escalating battle between Israel and Iran, with lethal air strikes between the international locations persevering with for a fourth day on Monday. Israel launched a collection of strikes Friday focusing on places it stated had been associated to Iran’s nuclear program, killing a number of senior army officers.
France’s authorities and President Emmanuel Macron have in the meantime elevated their criticism of Israel over its ongoing army operation in Gaza in current months, with a joint assertion from the UK, France and Canada in Might calling the extent of human struggling there “insupportable.”
