We Israelis can always find fair-weather friends who will support us when we are winning and take credit for our efforts after the fact, but are often absent when we need them most.
So, while it is nice that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has thanked us for doing the world’s “dirty work” in our neutralization of Iran’s military capabilities and US President Trump claimed “we [i.e. the US] have air superiority in Iran,” it was our fighter pilots who took the risks and made it happen in the face of the world’s early criticism. As we all recall, there was not much international support for our efforts during the early hours of June 13 when we began our liberation of Iran from the heavy hands of the mullahs.
However, it is not only in the diplomatic sphere where we need the support of our friends, but in the economic as well.
This past week at the Paris Air Show, a despicable and discriminatory event took place directed specifically at Israel’s defense industry, the very industry whose success our “friends” now applaud and some even want to claim as their own.
For context, the Paris Air Show is the world’s primary marketplace not only for aircraft but also for military equipment, especially that which is often attached to attack or defend flying machines. The world’s armies know this and travel to Paris every two years to scour the industry for new or upgraded products.
For Israel, which is one of the world’s prime developers of state-of-the-art military equipment used by dozens of militaries worldwide, the exhibition is one of its primary marketing tools.
What went wrong at the Paris Air Show?
What happened? On Sunday evening at 6 o’clock – having already received clearance from the show’s organizers that afternoon that their booths met the specifications required – the Israeli companies 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 open on Monday morning.
Two hours later, they received a second email advising them that because of the “violations,” their pavilion would be physically closed off to attendees.
The authorities, according to our sources, said the government wanted the Israeli companies to remove their offensive weapons from the displays and feature only defensive weapons. Of course, the reason countries visit the show in the first place is to buy both kinds of weaponry and, if this was the concern, why wouldn’t it apply to all countries exhibiting rather than only Israel? To be sure, we here in Israel already know the answer to that question, don’t we?
Upon entering the exhibition on Monday morning, all of the Israeli company exhibits in question had been closed off with plywood barriers painted black, effectively “ghettoizing” the Israeli pavilion. The only thing missing were the uniformed stormtroopers.
Clearly, this had been planned for some time, as it would have been virtually impossible in Paris, on a Sunday night 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 was nothing more than blatant discrimination and borders on antisemitism.
TO PUT this in context, I have over 15 years’ experience arranging booth space for our US state clients at the annual Arab Health Exhibition in Dubai. At this year’s event, this past January, for a relatively modest 48 sq. m. booth there the cost was in excess of $150,000 just for the floor space and the buildout of the booth display itself.
IAI, Rafael, Elbit, and others all had considerably larger booth space at the Paris Air Show with much more intricate booth construction. Thus, it would not surprise me if the costs for each company were in excess of $1 million, and that does not take into account the additional costs of staffing each booth (travel to Paris, hotel rooms, food, and incidentals). For each company this represents a costly lost opportunity.
What should have been the reaction of the exhibitors from other countries who claim to be our friends? In a perfect world, if a large block of the more than 2,500 exhibitors at the show had told the organizers that they would not show up on Tuesday morning unless the offending partitions were removed, the problem would have been solved in a moment.
I am convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that France, a country with a less than proud history of protecting its Jewish community, would have caved immediately rather than raise the ire of both the group of 2,500 exhibitors who had invested so much to be at the show or that of the over 300,000 unique visitors who came to France to attend the show.
However, in spite of the efforts of so many of us who toil daily to increase Israel’s international trade platform, our “friends” did not respond and were complicit by their silence. Even when Israel covered over those offensive partitions with graffiti extolling the virtues of our defense sector, the show management quickly found some black plastic laundry bag material to cover it up.
Sadly, the nations of the world have still not learned that if the organizers or the French government discriminate against one country in this manner, they effectively discriminate against every country. The show should not have been able to proceed.
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, and even greater shame on our “friends” who stood by in silence and let this travesty continue.
The writer is founder and chair of Atid EDI Ltd., an international business development consultancy. He is also the founder and chair of the American State Offices Association, former national president of the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel and a past chairperson of the board of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies.