France has blocked off Israel's offensive weapons display at the Paris exhibition of one of the largest weapons technology conferences in the world.
Israel's Defense Ministry announced on Monday morning that France had carried out the move, building large black walls around Israel's offensive weapons displays, under the cover of night between Sunday and Monday.
Defense Ministry Director-General Amir Baram called on France to retract the black blocked-off walls, citing how Israel was being singled out for discriminatory treatment when aggressive authoritarian countries like China and Turkey received no such treatment.
The ministry also accused France of specifically blocking off weapons which compete with French weapons as a sort of dirty competition trick.
The background to France's aggressive move was that after Israel's weapons display was already transported to France, and then Israel initiated the war with Iran, France requested Israel to remove its offensive weapons display and only to present its defensive technologies display.
"Last night, just one day before the Paris Air Show opened in Le Bourget Airport, exhibition organizers acting on behalf of the French government ordered the removal of offensive weapons systems from Israeli defense industry pavilions - breaking with standard practice at defense exhibitions worldwide," said the ministry.
Baram categorically rejected this demand. "The exhibition organizers responded by erecting a black wall that blocks the Israeli pavilions and creates segregation between the Israeli industry pavilions and dozens of other pavilions (Turkish, Chinese, and others). This unilateral action was carried out in the middle of the night after Israeli defense officials and companies had already finished setting up their display," said the ministry.
The ministry added, "This outrageous and unprecedented decision reeks of policy-driven and commercial considerations. This comes at a time when Israel is fighting a necessary and just war to eliminate the nuclear and ballistic threat facing the Middle East, Europe, and the entire world."
Further, the ministry contended, "The French are hiding behind supposedly political considerations to exclude Israeli offensive weapons from an international exhibition - weapons that compete with French industries. This is particularly striking given Israeli technologies' impressive and precise performance in Iran."
In June 2024, the French government initially boycotted Israel completely from the conference due to its criticism of Israel's war in Gaza.
However, a French court later ordered the conference to allow Israel to participate in some of the conference's later days.
Israel was enthusiastic about being invited to fully participate in the conference again this year as in past years until the incidents of Sunday-Monday.
Israel Defense Ministry Director General Maj. Gen. (Res.) Amir Baram addressed the situation, saying "Following last night's events in which exhibition organizers acting on behalf of the French government erected black walls to block Israeli pavilions at the Paris Air Show after Israel rejected demands to remove military systems."
Connecting the incident to Israel's recent Iran operations, Baram stated: "Israeli industry is very troubling to them because it doesn't just display things at exhibitions - it proves them in practice." He noted Israel's demonstrated "ability to bring weapons from hundreds of kilometers away to the bedroom where Iran's most important nuclear scientist sleeps."
He characterized the French decision as "absolutely, bluntly Antisemitic" and accused France of "commercial exclusion to prevent successful Israeli industries from competing with French ones."
Baram declared: "We're not backing down. We're filing court petitions in France today." He emphasized that "this comes from the government, from the very top. This is completely a state-level decision."
Statement from IAI’s president and CEO, Boaz Levy, shared: "Following decades of participation in the Paris Airshow and discussions with the French authorities, we received all of the authorizations to participate in the Airshow and have done everything they requested from us. Last night, after our booth was set up and ready for the show, we were asked to remove some of our systems from the booth. We tried to negotiate with them, but it seems these orders came from the highest levels in Paris, and this morning, when we arrived at our booth, we were shocked to find out that we were blocked by black walls built overnight, which reminds us of the dark days of when Jews were segmented from European society.
"As the son of a Holocaust survivor, I am very disturbed that not even 100 years after the Holocaust, our people are being discriminated against due to their religion. This type of behavior is not acceptable and discriminates against us as Israelis and Jewish people since all of the other participants in this Airshow do not have these limitations. We are shocked by the behavior of the Paris Airshow organizers and the French authorities who blocked our team from entering our booth.
"It appears that while France absorbed its dissatisfaction with Israel over the war in Gaza sufficiently to invite Israel back, the outbreak of sudden and ongoing war with Iran tilted the scales back toward a last-minute partial boycott."
Meshar Sasson, senior vice president at Elbit Systems, condemned the French decision to Reuters.
"If you cannot beat them in technology, just hide them, right? That’s what it is because there’s no other explanation," he said, pointing to a series of contracts that Elbit has won in Europe.
A statement from Rafael Advanced Air Systems read: "Just hours before the opening of the Paris Air Show, Rafael—along with other Israeli defense companies—was ordered by exhibition organizers, under direction from the French government, to remove key systems from display. Overnight, black walls were erected around our booth, physically isolating Israeli exhibitors from the rest of the global defense community.
"This action is discriminatory, unprecedented, and contrary to the principles of partnership that international exhibitions are meant to uphold.
"Rafael’s systems are not just innovative—they are operational, battle-proven, and actively saving lives. They are defending population centers, supporting NATO members and allies worldwide, and standing at the front lines of global security. This attempt to silence or sideline our presence does not diminish our relevance—it only underscores the growing impact of our technologies and values."
Israel's weapons industry
In 2023, the Jerusalem Post accompanied a large Israeli delegation to the conference, where Israel's exhibition was one of the most popular.
Despite the current war, Israeli defense sales to Europe have ballooned with sales of Iron Dome, David's Sling, and the Arrow systems being bought up by European countries.
However, some European countries have reduced or ended their defense deals with Israel and there is heavy domestic pressure in Western European countries for doing so.
One major highlight of the conference was supposed to be Israel sharing new developments with its laser defense system.