The organizers of the Eurosatory defense exhibition announced on Saturday that they intended to appeal the court’s ban on the participation of Israeli arms manufacturers in this event which opens Monday near Paris.
“Coges Events has decided to appeal this decision as soon as possible,” indicates the company in a press release sent to AFP in the evening, less than 24 hours after the Bobigny court announced it.
On May 31, Coges Events revealed that the French government had canceled the participation of Israeli arms manufacturers in Eurosatory, after a deadly bombing of a displaced persons camp in Rafah by the Israeli army had aroused indignation international and sparked demonstrations in France.
However, four NGOs had filed a request for interim relief, considering that the cancellation of Israeli participants was not enough to put an end to “the risk of imminent damage and manifestly unlawful disturbance”, according to a ruling consulted by AFP.
The court ordered Coges Events to prohibit “the participation in any form whatsoever of Israeli arms manufacturers and any employee or representative of Israeli arms companies, as well as any natural or legal person likely to to operate as their broker or intermediary.
It further prohibited “other companies or exhibitors from welcoming representatives of Israeli arms companies to their stands, or from selling or promoting Israeli weapons.”
For Coges Events on Saturday, “this judgment order goes beyond the decision taken two weeks ago by the French government authorities”, justifying the organizers’ decision to appeal.
Just over 2,000 exhibitors are registered for Eurosatory, an international defense and land security exhibition, which will take place from Monday to Friday in Villepinte (Seine-Saint-Denis), north of Paris. Seventy-four Israeli companies, including Israel’s main defense manufacturers, were initially expected to participate, according to organizers.
The court decision came against a backdrop of international outrage over the conduct of Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip.
The Hamas attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
In retaliation, the Israeli army launched a large-scale offensive in Gaza that left 37,296 people dead, mostly civilians, according to data Saturday from the Health Ministry of the Hamas-led Gaza government.
