FALCON POWERS – A French court has today, Saturday, decided to ban Israelis from entering the large Eurostory arms fair in Paris, after previously banning Israeli companies from participating in the exhibition.
France had made the decision last month to ban Israel from participating in the exhibition, amid suspicions of war crimes and genocide committed in Gaza. As a result, the Israeli pavilion that was supposed to host 74 Israeli exhibitors was canceled.
The Hebrew newspaper “Yedioth Ahronoth” reported that a pro-Palestinian organization filed a petition to the court claiming that canceling the pavilion does not ensure the absence of Israelis from the exhibition. The court accepted the petition and ordered the company organizing the arms fair to prevent the entry of Israelis who may be acting as brokers for Israeli arms companies.
The court’s decision states that the ruling prohibits the entry of any person or legal entity that may be acting on behalf of Israeli companies as an intermediary. The court also claimed in its decision that the organizers’ decision to allow representatives of Israeli companies to enter is illegal. The court ordered the organizing company to post the decision at the entrance gates to the conference center in Villepinte on the outskirts of Paris, where the arms fair is being held.
Representatives of the Israeli companies who had planned to visit the fair announced that they will be absent due to the decision, which is a major blow to the Israeli arms industry.
