Euronaval Show: Stop the arms trade with Israel

While Emmanuel Macron declared on October 5, 2024 that stopping sales of weapons used for the offensive on Gaza was a priority, France continues to maintain its complicity with Israel in matters of arms.

From November 4 to 7, 2024, the Euronaval show is scheduled to be held at the Paris Nord Villepinte exhibition center.

Organized by SOGENA, event subsidiary of GICAN (Groupement des Industries de Construction et Activities Navales), Euronaval is the equivalent in the military naval sector of the Eurosatory exhibition organized by France last June at the same place.

Following months of campaigning and popular mobilization, combined with legal action targeting the organizers of Eurosatory, the participation of the 74 Israeli arms companies, which were to exhibit their weapons in Villepinte in June, was canceled by order of the government French.

Five months later, as the Israeli army’s offensive on Gaza has further intensified and now extends to Lebanon, in addition to strikes on the West Bank, Syria, Iran and Yemen , 6 Israeli arms sellers are present in the list of 450 exhibitors announced by Euronaval. There are companies specializing in the naval field (Israel Shipyards, DSIT Solutions), but also the Israeli arms giants Israel Aerospace Industries, Rafael and Elbit Systems, main suppliers to the Israeli army.

We also find in the list of exhibitors French and international arms manufacturers who are currently selling weapons to Israelincluding the American company Lockheed Martin which produces the F-35 combat planes used to bomb Gaza, or the French company Thales, about which the investigative media Disclose revealed that it had delivered components of armed drones in Israel in 2024.

The stated aim of Euronaval is to offer the opportunity to “discover the latest trends in the naval industry” and “to exchange with political, military and industrial decision-makers in the naval defense sector”. Euronaval is therefore not only an exhibition hall, but above all a privileged setting for organizing business meetings between arms companies and their clients.

By offering Israel the opportunity to participate in this show, France not only allows Israeli arms companies, which have recorded record profits for a year, to benefit from a international showcase to sell their “battle-tested” weapons to the Palestiniansbut also for Israeli political, military and industrial representatives to come enter into agreements with French and foreign manufacturers to continue to supply weaponsthus fueling the endless war waged by Israel against civilian populations.

France cannot, on the one hand, call for a ceasefire and an end to arms sales to Israel, and on the other, continue to promote the arms trade with this country. Applying to Euronaval what was ordered for Eurosatory last June, that is to say canceling all Israeli industrial stands, is a minimum. We demand a total and immediate halt to all arms trade with Israel!

We call on all associations, collectives, unions and political parties to join this call and to mobilize to obtain satisfaction.

Call for initiative from the Stop Arming Israel France collective

Signatories as of 10/19/2024:
Home Information for All Foreigners (AITE), Popular Action in Poitevin Marshes, Republican Ethical Security Action (ASER), ActionAid France, AFPS – France Palestine Solidarity Association, AFPS 04, AFPS 69, AFPS 79, AFPS Albertville, AFPS Alsace, AFPS center Brittany, AFPS Charente Palestine Solidarity, AFPS de l’Ain, AFPS Fontenay-Sous-Bois, AFPS Limousin-Palestine, AFPS Nîmes, AFPS Paris 14-6, AFPS Paris-Sud, AFPS Roanne, AFPS Rouen, Alofa Tuvalu, AMFP Aubagne, Amitiés Palestine Al Rowwad 21, Arles for Palestine, Transnational Feminist Assembly, Association Couserans Palestine 09, Association of Maghreb Workers of France (ATMF), Association Mitryenne France Palestine Solidarité, MPLP Association, National Association of Communists (ANC), Association Palestine Friendship, UNJOURLAPAIX Association, ASTI Les Ulis, ATMF Dijon, Attac 78, Attac Aveyron, Attac France, ATTAC Nîmes, Lawyers for Justice in the Middle East, BDS France, BDS Provence, Brussels Panthères, CAPJPO-Europalestine, Tara Center, CGT 93, CGT Adecco, CGT Airbus Defense & Space Paris Region, CGT ENERGIE PARIS, Ciudadanías por la paz de Colombia-Francia, CNT STE75, Collective 21 for a Just and Lasting Peace between Palestinians and Israelis, Collective 69 in support of the Palestinian people , Collective of Sahrawi community associations in France, Collective of GA LFI Nîmes, Fontenaysien Collective for Peace, Judeo Arab and Citizen Collective for Palestine, Marseille Gaza Palestine Collective, NFP Quissac Collective and surrounding areas, Palestine Nord Essonne Collective, Solidarity Collective Palestine of Annecy, Palestine Solidarity Collective of Martigues, Vietnam Dioxin Collective, Palestine Action Committee, Vosges Committee of the Peace Movement, MRAP 21 committee, Palestine 47 AFPS Committee, Palestine Clignancourt Committee, Committee for the Respect of Freedoms and Rights of Man in Tunisia, International Solidarity and Ecologist Confederation, Decolonial News, Water Common Good PACA, Emancipation Inter-union Tendency, Ensemble!30, Evry Palestine (local group AFPS), Federation Education Research Culture CGT, National Secular Federation of Monuments, Federation SUD Santé Sociaux, Unitary Union Federation (FSU), Women in Black (Lyon), Plural Women, Festival of the 3 Neighborhoods, France insoumise Paris 10, GA Canaules insoumise, GA Garrigues insoumises Nîmes, GA Insoumis de Haute Azergues, GA LFI Nîmes center west, LFI Villeneuve-Les Angles Action Group, International Peace Research Institute in Geneva (GIPRI), The RhIZôme workshop, The white box, La France Insoumise, La France Insoumise 21, Le Vigan insoumis, Ligue des Droits de l’Homme Auxerre, Manifesto XXI, Mécréantes, Montigny-Solidarity, Peace Movement 13, Movement for a Nonviolent Alternative (MAN), MRAP, Trans Solidarity Organization (OST), Palestine 13, PCF des Yvelines, PCF federation of Gard, PCF section of Alès, PCF section St-Cyr 78, PEPS (For a popular and social ecology), Platform of French NGOs for Palestine, Let’s join us, CGT federal sector of railway workers of Paris-Est, Solidarity 44, Solidarity and Languages, Palestine Solidarity Toulouse Campaign, Earth Uprisings – Marseille, Stop Arming Israel France, Sud-Insee, The Liberation March (TLM), UJFP69, French Jewish Union for Peace (UJFP), Solidarity Trade Union, Union Syndicale Solidaires Ariège, Emergency Palestine, Emergency Palestine 91