From the Liveblog of
Sunday, April 28, 2024
French daily reports Paris halted certain arms exports to Israel since war erupted
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
France has suspended some arms exports to Israel since the start of the war against Hamas, according to the French Le Monde daily.
Paris stopped sending parts that could be used to make artillery shells after an October 2023 review of defense exports to Israel, says the report.
In general, France has sought to reduce exports to Israel to the minimum possible without “completely severing military ties.”
France abstained from an April 5 United Nations Human Rights Council resolution vote calling for an embargo on arms shipments to Israel.
Israel accounts for only 0.2 percent of France’s 27 billion Euro arms export market.
“With the Israelis,” a French government source tells Le Monde, “we help each other a little, we sell each other equipment a little, we are close enough to them to know what they do, but at the same time we are competitors, and above all, there is a very clear desire on the part of France not to help the operations carried out in Gaza and to take as few risks as possible in arms deliveries.”
The French Navy has stopped its customary port calls at Haifa, according to the report, and its air force has not planned any joint exercises either.
