French defense minister comes out against court decision to bar Israelis from Paris arms show

French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu backs the appeal of the organizers of the Eurosatory 2024 against a court decision banning anyone working for or representing an Israeli defense firm from the defense show.

“The executive branch is not supposed to react to court decisions,” he says, “but it is impossible to ignore the fact that this decision goes far beyond the original government request which never proposed such a ban.

“Therefore, the appeal of the organizers against this judicial decision is the correct step.”

The French Defense Ministry last month ordered Coges Event to ban the Israeli defense industry from setting up a stand at the show, saying that “the conditions are no longer right to host Israeli companies at the Paris show, given that the French president is calling for the cessation of IDF operations in Rafah.”

Seventy-four Israeli firms had been set to be represented at the June 17 to June 21 event at fairgrounds close to Paris’s main international airport, with Coges previously saying around 10 of them were to exhibit weapons.

In a letter dated Saturday, Coges President Charles Beaudoin wrote that the organization thinks the court’s ruling “goes beyond the government’s decision taken two weeks ago,” as the latter prevented Israeli firms from exhibiting at the fair, while the former bans their representatives from entering.