Macron folded: Israeli companies will be able to participate in the Paris Air Salon

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke today (Sunday) with French President Emmanuel Macron, who assured him that Israeli companies will be able to participate in the Paris Air Show, which will be held between July 16-22.

Macron’s announcement ends a period in which the French president took advantage of the many prestigious defense exhibitions that take place in his country, for the benefit of political confrontation and the promotion of French defense companies, whose Israeli counterparts are their direct rivals. The mutual clashes began on May 30, when Netanyahu was interviewed by the French channel TF1 and was asked about the killing of innocents in the Gaza Strip. In response, Netanyahu turned the spotlight on France’s attack on Mali in 2021, in which 19 people were killed at a wedding. According to the UN investigation into the affair, only five of the wedding participants were members of al-Qaeda, but France insists that its conclusions are wrong.

The diversion of fire to that event infuriated Macron, who was furious at Milla for working to promote a cease-fire in Gaza while Israel as a whole began a maneuver in Rafah. The very next day, the French government issued an order to the Kozs company, which organizes the Eurosatory exhibition in June, to keep Israeli companies away from the exhibition. But then pro-Palestinian organizations turned to a court and asked to ban the entry of any person with an Israeli passport, and their request was accepted.

The person who handled both cases at the same time is attorney Patrick Klugman, as the head of the legal team of the lawsuit against the decision led by the Association of Manufacturers and the Israel-France Chamber of Commerce. Klugman claimed that the step was taken without authority because Cozes is a private company, and the tribunal accepted the appeal. In the same Meanwhile, in another court, another unusual event happened: Kozs joined the appeal led by Klugman against the ban on the entry of Israelis to the exhibition Success, but a problem arose: the decisions were made so close to the Eurosatory deadline, that the Israeli companies had difficulty organizing accordingly.

The companies from Israel violated the French hegemony

After the ruling of the court, the French defense industries suffered a very serious professional blow in July: according to foreign publications, Morocco purchased the Ofek 13 satellite from the aerospace industry for one billion dollars. The meaning is the moving aside of the French companies Airbus and Thales, Rabat’s previous suppliers in the field. In the shadow of the publications about the IAA deal with Morocco and despite the legal failure, the French government did not say desperate, and tried to keep the Israeli companies away from the Euronaval naval exhibition at the beginning of November. Macron, this time irritated by the developments of the fighting in Lebanon, chose another measure: he convened the Defense and Security Council National (SGDSN), through which he issued a decision to exclude the Israeli companies.

As part of the legal battle in which attorney Klugman was involved as well as attorney Anna Moshe, who accompanies companies and start-ups in the security field, among other things, they managed to prove that this step was also taken without authority. Bottom line, five of the seven companies that planned to attend exhibited at this show, because the ruling came less than a week before it started. The prominent Israeli company that appeared in the same class was Israel Shipyards, which among other things presented the Mini Sheldag, a battle boat only 20 meters in size, and the new S80 model battleship.

Now, removal from a far more prestigious exhibition than the previous two, which is on the list of exhibitions scheduled for the coming year of the Department for Defense Exports (Sivet), is removed from the chapter. Before that, the DSEI exhibition in Japan is expected in May, and in November a very intriguing exhibition – all the more so in the shadow of the regional geopolitical developments – the air show in Dubai.