PARIS — The Israeli Ministry of Defense lambasted what it called “discriminatory” measures taken to limit the presence of Israeli firms at the Eurosatory defense exhibition in France, while event organizers said the displays ran afoul of French government rules.
“Overnight, the management of the Eurosatory exhibition boarded up Israeli defense industry pavilions — despite these companies having met the French government’s outrageous demands and displayed solely defensive systems,” the Ministry of Defense said in a statement Sunday. “This is a cynical, discriminatory, and unsurprising move aimed at shutting Israeli technology out of an international exhibition — technology whose quality is proven daily across the Middle East.”
Today the booths for large Israeli defense contractors like Elbit Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries were open but noticeably lacked the kind of munitions and models of weapons platforms and systems typical for an exhibition booth. Elbit displayed a large promotional video of its directed energy systems in action.
Other Israeli firms’ booths were fully boarded up by temporary walls, including companies that specialize in tactical gear, electro-optical control capabilities systems and fire control systems. The large walls echoed actions taken against Israeli firms in 2025 at the Paris Air Show.
Michael Edelstein, Elbit Systems’ VP of strategy and business development in North America, told Breaking Defense the company had prepared ahead of time for the restrictions but still had to remove an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance system from its display area after a visit from show organizers.
A company official at Rafael, whose large booth was open and displayed a directed energy air defense system but little else, bemoaned the decision to board up some firms’ exhibits. The official told Breaking Defense on the condition of anonymity that the company is otherwise “operating as usual” and “continuing” with planned meetings and forthcoming announcements.
Earlier this month the Israeli MoD said that the French government had banned official participation by the Israeli government in Eurosatory and said Israeli defense firms could display “air defense products only, with offensive systems explicitly excluded.”
At the time, the MoD blasted the French demand as a “disgraceful decision, one that reeks of political and commercial calculation, and regrettably, it comes as no surprise.”
Eurosatory organizer Coges Events said in a statement to Breaking Defense today that exhibitors had been told they could only show “material and products exclusively linked to anti-air and anti-ballistic missile capacities.” It said certain stands “have been closed because they did not respect the conditions of participation in the exhibition defined by the French authorities.”
In 2024 a court battle erupted ahead of and during that edition of Eurosatory over restrictions placed on Israeli firms, and a similar drama repeated later that year at the naval-focused Euronaval.
The French government has ly linked its stance to Israel’s conduct in Gaza, where Israeli military operations have killed tens of thousands in an effort to root out the militant group Hamas following its deadly terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
But Edelstein said he suspected the French move was not just about geopolitics. Israeli industry, he said, has been “very successful” worldwide, creating a threat to a market in Europe that traditionally has been “owned” by French firms. The French are “trying to act against us,” he said.
The Israeli MoD in its statement echoed the suggestion: “The Israel Ministry of Defense will continue driving Israeli defense exports to new global heights, despite French efforts to conceal Israeli technological superiority from the world.”
Eurosatory is taking place a week after an aerospace exhibition in Germany, the Berlin Air Show. Aside from pro-Palestinian protestors blocking the road on the first day of that show, there was little geopolitical controversy, and Israeli firms displayed their wares as usual.
