French Court Extends Ban on Israeli Participants in Weapons Trade Show
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A French court has extended a ban on Israeli arms companies and delegations from participating in the Eurosatory weapons trade show, following a lawsuit brought by Palestinian human rights group al-Haq and a coalition of other organizations.
The court has prohibited all “Israeli arms companies, their affiliates, and all Israeli delegations” from participating in the Eurosatory weapons trade show, according to al-Haq, which co-filed a lawsuit against the event's organizers.
The court has also instructed the event’s organizer, COGES, to display the court's decision at all entrances to the Eurosatory trade show, al-Haq stated, according to Al Jazeera.
This updated ruling extends a prior decision that banned Israeli firms from exhibiting at the event, which is set to begin on Monday and run until June 21.
“The conditions are no longer met to host Israeli companies at the show at a time when (French President Emmanuel Macron) is calling for Israel to cease operations in Rafah,” the French Defence Ministry remarked earlier.
A coalition of 30 organizations, which successfully argued for the ban on Israeli companies at Eurosatory, announced that the updated ruling followed indications that some Israeli companies were still planning to participate in the Paris event.
“Several declarations by Israeli companies indicated that they would circumvent this ban, by being present at other companies’ stands, and through subsidiaries or other affiliated companies,” the group known as Stop Arming Israel France said in a statement on Saturday after the court extended its initial ban.
The statement added that “at least seven subsidiary companies,” which are “majority-owned by Israeli companies,” were still registered for the show.
The groups argued that the participation of Israeli arms companies at the trade show posed a “high risk that the exhibition would contribute to international crimes and violations of international humanitarian law.”
Israeli authorities are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the military operations and attacks in Gaza since October 7, 2023, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory said in a new report Wednesday.
The Commission also found that Israeli authorities are responsible for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare, murder or willful killing, intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects, forcible transfer, sexual violence, torture and inhuman or cruel treatment, arbitrary detention and outrages upon personal dignity.