In second blow to Israel ban at arms expo, court of appeals overturns ruling

Following the suspension of a French court ban on Israeli delegates, intermediaries, and companies from attending an international arms exhibition, a court of appeals has now also overturned the controversial ruling.

Patrick Klugman, an attorney working on the case, shared  late Tuesday night the court of appeals decision overturning the Saturday Bobigny District Court decision to prevent Israeli representation at the Eurosatory 2024 exhibition was discriminatory.

French Defense Ministry supports appeal

Coges Events, which organized the June 17-21 Eurosatory arms exhibition, had appealed the ban. The French Defense Ministry had made a rare criticism of the courts and declared support for Coges’s appeal.

Association France Palestine Solidarité (AFPS), one of the June 6 petitioners to the Bobigny court, had organized protests outside the Tuesday hearing.

The successful appeal came the same day that the Commercial Court of Paris had suspended the ban after accepting the France-Israel Chamber of Commerce’s charges of discrimination.

The Saturday Bobigny ruling had accepted the arguments by AFPS and a coalition of other organizations that the exhibition could facilitate alleged breaches of international law by the Israeli military.

While the coalition had widely spread news of the ban as a legal victory, by Wednesday morning they had not issued a statement on the two strikes against the decision.

On May 31, the French Defense Ministry had issued its own missive that there should be no Israeli booth at the massive defense exposition.

National Rally Party president Jordan Bardella said on social media on Wednesday that he regretted “that the French government has submitted to the demands of political movements which relay the ideology of Hamas. It is normal that there are defense partnerships with Israel.”