France bans Israeli defense companies from prestigious arms show amid call for ceasefire in Gaza

French authorities have banned Israeli defense companies from exhibiting at a trade fair next month near Paris, organizers announced Friday.

“By decision of government authorities, there will be no stand for the Israeli defense industry at the Eurosatory 2024 exhibition,” said the organizers, Coges Events.

Coges did not provide an explanation, but the French Defense Ministry issued a statement saying that “the conditions are no longer met to welcome Israeli companies to the Paris show, given that the French president calls for a cessation of IDF operations in Rafah.

The announcement comes days after an Israeli strike targeting two top Hamas terrorists in Rafah, the southernmost city of the Gaza Strip, sparked a fire in a compound housing displaced Palestinians, killing dozens of civilians and triggering international outrage and protests in France.

An Israeli military investigation into the strike found that a hidden weapons stockpile may have been the real cause of the deadly fire, and that the airstrike which targeted an adjacent area used small munitions that could not not start such a fire alone.

In response to the deadly fire, in which Hamas-run health authorities in Gaza said 45 civilians had been killed, French President Emmanuel Macron said he was “outraged” and demanded a “ceasefire immediate “.

“In accordance with the president’s words, we call for a ceasefire which will guarantee the protection of the Gazan civilian population, the release of all hostages and full access to humanitarian aid,” adds the French ministry’s press release.

The annual event is one of the largest defense exhibitions in the world, with more than 1,700 companies expected to attend more than 60,000 attendees from 150 countries.

Seventy-four Israeli companies were expected to be represented at the event, which will be held from June 17 to 21 at the exhibition center near Paris’ main international airport, with Coges having previously announced that around ten of them would exhibit weapons.

National Unity Chairman Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet, said Friday that he had discussed the issue with French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and asked him to reconsider his decision.

“I asked Attal that France reconsider the decision to ban the Israeli delegation from the Eurosatory arms show, which is unacceptable and constitutes a reward for terrorism,” he wrote in a post on X.

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli embassy in France refused to comment.

The war in Gaza erupted after the October 7 Hamas massacre, which saw some 3,000 terrorists cross the Israeli border by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and taking 252 hostages, mostly civilians, most amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.

Hamas-run Gaza health authorities say more than 35,000 people have been killed or presumed dead in the fighting so far, although only 24,000 deaths have been identified in hospitals. The toll, which cannot be verified, includes some 15,000 terrorists whom Israel claims to have killed in combat. Israel also claims to have killed some 1,000 terrorists in Israel on October 7.

A total of 294 soldiers were killed during the ground offensive against Hamas and during operations along the border with Gaza. A civilian Defense Ministry contractor was also killed in the Gaza Strip.

Last week, a group of activists, in a legal warning, urged Coges to take steps to prevent the buying and selling of weapons that could be used in alleged Israeli “crimes” committed in Gaza and the West Bank.

ASER, Stop Arming Israel, Urgence Palestine and the France-Palestine Solidarity Association also warned against profits from the fair which would “reinforce the economic power of companies likely to participate in these crimes”.

Coges told AFP that it was “a show solely intended for the presentation of defense and security equipment (…) and in no case a place for transactions.”

Amid the ongoing war in Gaza, calls are growing to limit arms sales to the IDF and divest from Israeli defense companies.

This demand has its roots in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, a decades-old campaign against Israeli policies towards the Palestinians. The movement has gained new strength as Israel’s war against Hamas passes the eight-month mark and reports of suffering in Gaza have led to growing international pressure on Israel to end the fighting.

Protesters in the BDS movement – ​​including student encampments and corporate demonstrations – have claimed parallels between Israel’s policy toward Gaza and apartheid in South Africa. Opponents of BDS say its message veers into anti-Semitism.