France blocks access to Israeli arms stands at Paris airshow

The four main Israeli company stands at the Paris airshow have been shut down after exhibitors reportedly refused to remove some weapons from display.

- Julia Kollewe and Jasper Jolly

The stands at the aerospace industry event were hidden from view after pressure on the organisers from the French government, a source said.

The stands were used by Elbit Systems, Rafael, IAI and UVision. Three smaller Israeli stands that did not have hardware on display and an Israeli Ministry of Defence stand remained open yesterday. The airshow is taking place amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

Reuters reported that the instruction came from the French authorities after Israeli companies failed to comply with a direction from a French security agency to remove offensive or kinetic weapons from the stands.