Al-Haq along with Stop Fuelling War, Friends of the Earth France, Survie, and the French Jewish Union for Peace (UJFP), (‘the Coalition’) called on the organisers of the Paris Airshow at La Bourget held from 16 to 22 June 2025, to "take all possible measures to prevent the promotion or hosting of companies, delegations or intermediaries likely and to participate in the perpetuation of crimes committed by Israel" in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Following the Bobigny court’s rejection of the petition, the coalition filed the petition to the Paris Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal ruling against the Coalition found that ‘the allegations of complicity in and concealment of war crimes and violations of the right to dignity and the right to life are unrelated to the obligations imposed by the contract to comply with regulations and the law’.

Our organisations stress that under no circumstances should companies governed by private law be placed above the law - in particular the law prohibiting complicity in the most serious international crimes. This new rejection thus ignores what is beyond doubt: the sale of arms and components from multinationals all over the world enables the perpetration of international crimes against civilians.

By failing to acknowledge corporate complicity, the Court has granted the SIAE, a platform and commercial visibility to individuals and companies that are co-perpetrators in the most serious international crimes (war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide). The promotion of arms, which has been going on for months on the exhibition site, is a crucial economic boost for these entities. Exhibitions at the 2023 Paris Air Show generated sales worth 150 billion euros.

The arguments put forward by the opposing party, which the judges decided to uphold, were based on the concept of ‘government action’. Arms sales on French soil were said to be too closely linked to the ‘conduct of France's international relations’ –– an area reserved for the executive. This excessively broad interpretation of the concept of ‘acts of government’ precludes any possibility of judicial review of the arms sales. It thus denies individuals the right to question the State on these issues, while concealing the responsibility –– shared with States –– of private actors such as the Paris Air Show or multinational arms companies, in the perpetuation of these crimes.

Armaments-related issues are our collective responsibility, in the name of human dignity. It is all the more legitimate to take up this issue when the State chooses to direct taxpayers' money towards the profits of the arms industry, rather than responding to basic needs through strengthened public services.

Next Steps

But all is not lost. Given the urgency of the situation in Palestine –– recognised by the International Court of Justice and numerous experts as a plausible genocide –– and as the number of victims continues to rise, we are determined to mobilise all remedies available under French law, to defend the rights and dignity of the Palestinian people, and to subject arms companies to the rule of law. We have filed a ‘pourvoi en cassation’ –– an appeal to the French Supreme Court. However, we need your help to continue this legal action: https://tinyurl.com/237saf5n.

In line with the growing mobilisation against the inaction of the French authorities in the face of the ongoing genocide in Gaza this action is being carried out with the coordination of research and legal strategy by the Droit & Mouvements Sociaux (DMS) collective and with the support of the War on War coalition.

Closure of Israel’s Exhibition

Lastly, according to i24, on the eve of the opening of the Paris Air Show, the organisers, at the request of the French government, demanded the withdrawal of several offensive weapons exhibited by Israel. The Israeli delegation refused to withdraw and as a result its stands were cordoned off with a black partition installed during the night by the show's organisers. Clearly the French government wants to avoid the risk of legal proceedings for complicity in Israel's crimes, which both the French government and the show's organisers are exposed to, and which we have been warning it about for months through our legal appeals.

However, this purely aesthetic measure does nothing to reduce the risks, since the weapons remain on display behind the black partition. Furthermore, banning certain weapons is tantamount to ignoring both the law and the reality of armed conflict: promoting and welcoming entities –– Israeli companies or delegations or those of other nationalities –– that support Israel, whatever the form of this support (delivery of so-called ‘defensive’ components or exports), helps to strengthen them significantly and therefore constitutes a clear form of assistance to the crimes.

To inform the public on the future prospects for this legal action, we organised a press conference on Monday 16 June 2025 at 2pm in front of the Parc des expositions du Bourget. Also present at this conference were members of the Guerre à la Guerre coalition and the Stop Bourget movement, who are preparing a major weekend of action against the exhibition on 20, 21 and 22 June.

Press contacts:

Al-Haq:  [email protected]

Droits et Mouvements Sociaux : [email protected]

Survie : [email protected]

Coalition Guerre à la Guerre (which brings together some twenty collectives including Soulèvements de la Terre, Stop Arming Israel France, Urgence Palestine, la Marche des Solidarités)

Dominique Cochain, lawyer and co-founder of Avocats pour la Justice au Proche Orient (AJPO) [email protected]