French court overturns ban of Israeli companies at defense trade fair

PARIS: A Paris commercial court on Wednesday threw out a French government decision to ban Israeli companies from setting up stands or exhibiting hardware at the Euronaval defense trade fair, according to a decision seen by AFP.
The court ordered the organizers “to suspend the execution of the measures adopted against the Israeli exhibiting companies whose stands were prohibited at the Euronaval 2024 exhibition until the closing date of the exhibition,” the judgment said.
In mid October, the French government told Euronaval organizers that Israeli delegations taking part in the trade fair this year, from November 4-7, would not be permitted to set up a stand of exhibit hardware, sparking outrage from Israel.
The decision came amid rising tensions between Israel and France, after President Emmanuel Macron criticized the civilian casualties in the Israeli campaigns against Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The French leader had insisted that stopping the export of weapons used by Israel in both operations was the only way to halt the two conflicts.
A lawyer who represented the Israeli companies after they appealed the ban, Patrick Klugman, hailed Wednesday’s decision as “a victory for the rule of law.”
“Whatever the stated intention, from the highest level of the State to the organizing company, the action which we had to take note of here was manifestly ill-founded and illegal,” he said.
Euronaval is a biennial event that attracts naval defense exhibitors from around the world.
At the end of May, the presence of Israeli defense manufacturers at the Eurosatory land defense and security exhibition was banned by the government, before finally being authorized by the French courts.