Last night (Sunday, June 15, 2025), just one day before the Paris Air Show opened in Bourget Airport, exhibition organizers acting on behalf of the French government ordered the removal of offensive weapons systems from Israeli defense industry pavilions – breaking with standard practice at defense exhibitions worldwide.
Following instructions from Israel Ministry of Defense (IMOD) Director General, Maj. Gen. (Res.) Amir Baram, the Ministry informed organizers that it categorically rejects this demand. The exhibition organizers responded by erecting a black wall that blocks the Israeli pavilions and creates segregation between the Israeli industry pavilions and dozens of other pavilions (Turkish, Chinese, and others). This unilateral action was carried out in the middle of the night after Israeli defense officials and companies had already finished setting up their displays.
This outrageous and unprecedented decision reeks of policy-driven and commercial considerations. This comes at a time when Israel is fighting a necessary and just war to eliminate the nuclear and ballistic threat facing the Middle East, Europe, and the entire world.
The French are hiding behind supposedly political considerations to exclude Israeli offensive weapons from an international exhibition – weapons that compete with French industries. This is particularly striking given Israeli technologies’ impressive and precise performance in Iran.
The IMOD calls on the French government and exhibition organizers to reverse this ugly and improper action, remove the black segregation walls from the Israeli pavilions, and allow Israeli industries to display their systems like all other participants in the exhibition.
Israel Ministry of Defense Director General Maj. Gen. (Res.) Amir Baram addressed the situation: “Israeli industry is very troubling to them because it doesn’t just display things at exhibitions – it proves them in practice.” He noted Israel’s demonstrated “ability to bring weapons from hundreds of kilometers away to the bedroom where Iran’s most important nuclear scientist sleeps.”
He characterized the French decision as “absolutely, bluntly Antisemitic” and accused France of “commercial exclusion to prevent successful Israeli industries from competing with French ones. We’re not backing down. We’re filing court petitions in France today.” He emphasized that “this comes from the government, from the very top. This is completely a state-level decision.”
Additionally, the French court hearing the petition by Israeli defense companies against the ban on displaying offensive weapons and blocking Israeli pavilions with black walls at the Paris Air Show, which took place on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, ruled that it lacked the authority to intervene in the French government’s decision.
IMOD Director General, Maj. Gen. (Res.) Amir Baram, responded: “The French government’s decision deliberately seeks to harm Israeli defense industries. It’s regrettable and immoral to see discrimination based on extraneous considerations that mask French economic interests aimed at undermining the competition from the Israeli industry. The scandalous French decision will achieve the opposite result. Despite the French attempt to harm us, visitors, including heads of state and military leaders from around the world, flocked to the Israeli industry pavilions, proving that Israeli defense systems are more sought-after and attractive than ever. The entire world sees the exceptional achievements of Israeli systems in Iran and other arenas. Battlefield performance speaks for our products far better than any exhibition on French soil.”
