As international accusations of war crimes and genocide against Israel continue to multiply, the French judiciary has refused to ban Israeli companies from participating in the Paris Air Show, scheduled to take place from June 16 to 22 in Seine-Saint-Denis.
The decision has sparked a wave of controversy, shedding light on France’s diplomatic double standards regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Legal action to block Israeli exhibitors
Several organizations—including Attac-France, Survie, Stop Fuelling War, the Palestinian NGO Al-Haq, and the French Jewish Union for Peace—filed an emergency legal motion seeking the exclusion of Israeli companies, citing their involvement in crimes committed in Gaza.
The plaintiffs also opposed the participation of defense industry actors linked to ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Sudan.
However, the court ruled that deciding whether or not to permit exhibitors falls under the scope of France’s foreign policy—an “act of government,” according to the legal precedent cited. In other words, the SIAE, the organizer of the event, neither holds the authority nor the legitimacy to screen participants based on their geopolitical associations.
A platform for weaponry “tested in Gaza”
“This show will serve as a platform and commercial showcase for companies that openly claim to contribute to the Israeli war effort,” said Dominique Cochain, the attorney representing the plaintiff NGOs. Some companies could promote weaponry that has been “battle-tested in Gaza”—a region where, according to humanitarian sources, the number of Palestinian civilian deaths has exceeded 35,000 since hostilities erupted in October 2023.
Despite mounting international protests—including those from UN experts and numerous countries that have officially recognized the State of Palestine—France remains unmoved. President Emmanuel Macron’s government continues to advocate, at least rhetorically, for a two-state solution, while simultaneously tolerating the presence of Israel’s military industry on French soil.
A deliberate diplomatic inconsistency?
Although Paris has declared its support for recognizing a Palestinian state, no tangible measures have yet been taken in that direction.
The Paris Air Show has thus become a symbol of diplomatic inconsistency: on one hand, statements upholding the Palestinians’ right to statehood; on the other, clear indulgence toward a state accused of genocide.
The Rights & Social Movements collective argues that this lack of official response amounts to encouraging impunity—or even facilitating the commission of international crimes—through indirect support of Israel’s war economy. Institutional silence in the face of NGO and grassroots pressure has fueled a sense of passive complicity, denounced by segments of French civil society.
France’s refusal to exclude Israeli companies from the Paris Air Show illustrates a diplomatic and legal double standard, where strategic and economic interests appear to outweigh humanitarian principles.
This decision raises a burning question: how far is France willing to go in turning a blind eye to its partners’ involvement in war crimes in the name of state interest ?
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