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apnews.com

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/14275510

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/14275507

The black walls appeared overnight ahead of the show’s opening Monday, visually isolating Israeli booths from dozens of other international exhibitors. The Israeli Defense Ministry said the move followed a last-minute demand from organizers to remove offensive weapons systems from display — a request they rejected.

The [French] official said Israeli exhibitors were told weeks in advance that they couldn’t exhibit certain types of equipment, and that the walls were erected as a last resort when five of them didn’t comply. Four others did and are allowed to exhibit. The official did not elaborate on what kind of equipment was not allowed, or why.

The president and CEO of Israeli company IAI, Boaz Levy, said it has exhibited at the Paris Air Show for decades and had received authorizations to display its equipment.

‘’Last night, after our booth was set up and ready for the show, we were asked to remove some of our systems from the booth. We tried to negotiate with them, but it seems these orders came from the highest levels in Paris,’’ he said in a statement. ‘’This morning, when we arrived at our booth, we were shocked to find out that we were blocked by black walls built overnight.’’

  • Annoyed_🦀 @lemmy.zipEnglish
    26·
    2 days ago

    The official said Israeli exhibitors were told weeks in advance that they couldn’t exhibit certain types of equipment

    ‘’Last night, after our booth was set up and ready for the show, we were asked to remove some of our systems from the booth."

    Someone is lying.

    • Saleh@feddit.orgOPEnglish
      25·
      1 day ago

      My hypothesis, based on previous Israeli behvaiour: (Note that “Israeli” refers here to the institutions of the state and state aligned private sector, where obviously the MIC is directly involved with the state.)

      You are told that you cannot exhibit certain systems. By pushing it, you either get two outcomes:

      1. You will be allowed to break the rules, subsequently having normalized that rules are not made for you.
      2. You will face consequences for the rule-breaking. You loudly cry wolf and accuse everyone around to have been victimizing you. Your “homefront” will not care about differentiation, as your central narrative is you being victimized by everyone, so you get them to rally behind you. You can sow division and get some leverage by manipulating your “allies” against each other and whip them in line.

      This ignores the third possible outcome, which Israel still fails to acknowledge as becoming ever more prevalent:

      1. Everyone is tired of your shit as you have been pushing it too far too many times and you are actually digging yourself in a hole that will be harder and harder to climb out.

      I find it rather implausible that the show organizers would be lying here. They are a private company. If they didn’t want Israeli companies there, they could have dealt with that more quietly in advance. Also it should be pretty easy for every other company presenting there to see, which rules have been communicated beforehand. Now whether they would disclose that publicly is another matter, but inside the industry it will be known and talked about.

    • FelixCress@lemmy.worldEnglish
      91·
      1 day ago

      Yes, and the right answer to “who is lying” is coming with accusations of antisemitism.