France to challenge ruling allowing Israeli firms to exhibit at defense shows
Appeal filed after Paris court rules in favor of Israeli firms; Israel Manufacturers’ Association vows to fight attempt to bar defense firms ahead of Paris Air Show in June 2025
Sharon Wrobel is a tech reporter for The Times of Israel.
The French government has filed an appeal to challenge the authority of a court ruling allowing Israeli companies to participate in major defense exhibitions and arms shows.
In the appeal, the French government is challenging the authority of a Paris court to rule on matters of government policy in an attempt to annul a recent decision to permit Israeli companies to exhibit at current and future exhibitions in France, the Israel Manufacturers’ Association said.
The move comes after the Paris Commercial Court at the end of October ruled that the Euronaval arms show cannot keep Israeli companies from exhibiting at the event based on their nationality, and ordered organizers “to suspend the execution of the measures adopted against the Israeli exhibiting companies.” That’s after French President Emmanuel Macron had decided to ban Israeli firms from exhibiting at the naval arms show.
“We will not allow anyone to remove us or sideline us from the international defense stage,” said Israel Manufacturers’ Association President Ron Tomer. “It is clear to us that the latest appeal is an attempt to prepare the ground for the possibility of preventing us from participating in the prestigious Paris Air Show, but we will not let that happen.”
“We have recruited the best lawyers in France and will fight in any legal court until justice and equality prevail,” Tomer added.
The Paris Air Show, which is taking place in June 2025 at France’s Paris–Le Bourget Airport, is held every other year and is considered one of the largest and most important in the world. Israel’s national pavilion at the 2023 Paris Air Show included 17 Israeli companies displaying their technologies in the fields of air defense systems, drones, radar and laser technologies, and missile warning systems. Israeli companies exhibiting at the pavilion include Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.
The attempted ban from Euronaval, which took place in early November, was the second time this year that France tried to exclude Israeli firms from a major defense show, and had the decision struck down by the Paris Commercial Court.
In May, France said conditions were not right for Israel to participate in the Eurosatory military trade show, and banned Israeli manufacturers. The court overturned the decision, but only after the conference had already begun.
“The State of Israel is a proud sovereign state, like any other country within the Commonwealth of Nations and we would expect that, especially in a country like France, which holds the same democratic values as Israel, including the principles of equality and justice, would not discriminate against Israeli firms compared to those from other countries,” said Tomer.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
