France Hits Us Yet Again  

Sadly, France has a long history of suddenly shifting its position on Israel from a supporter to a critic.

For more than 60 years and many Israeli wars ago there has always been concern about the true intentions of the French government towards Israel. Now French President Emmanuel Macron is pushing a number of Western countries to recognize a Palestinian state while also being the prime movers, along with Saudi Arabia, of a UN summit this week to push forward a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis.

So, one never knows how that wind will blow but this morning in Paris they have finally succeeded in ghettoizing Israel’s defense industry at the Paris Air Show which opens as I write this.

Overnight on Sunday, the organizers of the show cordoned off the Israeli pavilion by placing black-painted plywood panels around the exhibitors, making it virtually impossible for attendees to access the site.

I was in contact earlier today with a senior VP of Rafael Industries who contacted me from Paris to alert me to this situation. He related that the exhibits were inspected on Sunday afternoon and they all received approval by the show organizers.

Yet, at 1800 on Sunday, after everyone had left the site for the day, he and others received an email from the organizers advising them that the displays were in violation of a number of French laws and would not be permitted to operate.  Two hours later at 2000 they received a second email advising them that because of the “violations” the pavilion would be closed off to attendees.

When the Israeli company staffs arrived at the exhibition site this morning, they found the area full blocked to passage be these solid black painted plywood barriers.  Obviously, this had been planned for some time as it would have been impossible in Paris, on a Sunday no less, to arrange the purchase of the panels, have them painted and locate contractors willing to work overnight to install them as well. This is nothing more than blatant discrimination and borders, as well, on antisemitism.

If the organizers were so concerned about the participation of the Israeli companies, they could have advised them in advance, as they did with an exhibition last year in Paris.  Both are discriminatory acts but at least they would not have forced the Israeli companies to bear the costs and then not be permitted to participate.

By the way, for those not in the know, exhibiting at events like these can easily cost a large company like Rafael many hundreds of thousands of dollars for the space rental and the booth buildout, not to mention the personnel costs of staffing the exhibit.

One would hope that the US exhibitors and others from freedom loving countries will stand in solidarity with Israel and refuse to staff their exhibits until the offending panels are removed.  Their position needs to be that if the organizers or the French government discriminate against one country in this manner, they effectively discriminate against every country and the show should not proceed.

Israel is now engaged in an existential war for its own survival and is working to ensure the safety of the entire free world by attempting to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.  For this the world should say thank you and not vilify us in this manner.   Need we remind the world once again, that what starts with us never ends with us…we are just the canary in the coal mine.

Shame on the French for bowing to whatever political pressure contributed to this decision.