Israel furious as France shuts weapons stands at Paris Airshow

By Paul Sandle, Giulia Segreti, Steven Scheer and Tim Hepher

PARIS/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - France shut down the main Israeli company stands at the Paris Airshow on Monday for refusing to remove attack weapons from display, in a move condemned by Israel and highlighting tensions between the traditional allies.

The stands included those of Elbit Systems, Rafael, IAI and Uvision. Smaller Israeli stands, which didn't have hardware on display, and an Israeli Ministry of Defence stand, remained open.

France, a long-time Israeli ally, has gradually hardened its position on the government of Benjamin Netanyahu over its actions in Gaza and military interventions abroad.

French President Emmanuel Macron made a distinction last week between Israel’s right to protect itself, which France supports and could take part in, and strikes on Iran it did not recommend.

Israel's defence ministry said it had rejected an order from the French authorities to remove some weapons from displays, and that exhibition organisers responded by erecting a black wall that separated the Israeli industry pavilions from others.

This action, it added, was carried out in the middle of the night after Israeli defence officials and companies had already finished setting up their displays.

"This outrageous and unprecedented decision reeks of policy-driven and commercial considerations," the ministry said in a statement.

"The French are hiding behind supposedly political considerations to exclude Israeli offensive weapons from an international exhibition - weapons that compete with French industries."

IAI's president and CEO, Boaz Levy, said the black partition walls were reminiscent of "the dark days of when Jews were segmented from European society".

Two U.S. Republican politicians attending the air show also criticised the French move.

Talking to reporters outside the blacked-out Israeli defence stalls, U.S. Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders described the decision as "pretty absurd", while Republican Senator Katie Britt criticised it as "short-sighted".

The office of French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said it had told all exhibitors ahead of the show that offensive weapons would be prohibited from display and that Israel's embassy in Paris had agreement to this. It added that the companies could resume their exhibits if they complied with this requirement.

Bayrou told reporters that given France's diplomatic stance, and "in particular its ...very great concern about Gaza", the government had felt it unacceptable for attack weapons to be on show.

Meshar Sasson, senior vice president at Elbit Systems, accused France of trying to stymie competition, pointing to a series of contracts that Elbit has won in Europe.

"If you cannot beat them in technology, just hide them right? That’s what it is because there's no other explanation," he said.

Rafael described the French move as "unprecedented, unjustified, and politically motivated".

The air show's organiser said in a statement that it was in talks to try to help "the various parties find a favourable outcome to the situation".

(Reporting by Paul Sandle, Tim Hepher, Giulia Segreti, Steven Scheer, Joe Brock, Michel Rose, John Irish and Geert de Clercq. Editing by Mark Potter)