After more than two years of genocide in Gaza—the legal classification of which was recently confirmed by an independent UN International Commission of Inquiry—Al-Haq, Lawyers for Justice in the Middle East (AJPO), the French Jewish Union for Peace (UJFP), Survie, Nidal and Stop Fuelling War, supported by the Guerre à la Guerre coalition and, in legal matters, by Droit et Mouvements Sociaux (DMS), have sent a formal notice to the Prime Minister and the organisers of the Milipol trade fair.
Milipol is a public limited company whose capital is 40% controlled by the Ministry of the Interior and 60% by multinational ‘security’ companies (Thales, Airbus Defence&Space and Idemia), while the Milipol brand is owned by an economic interest group (EIG) comprising Thales, Visiom and Protecop.
Our organisations warn that participation in the 24th Milipol Paris ‘international exhibition of internal security for governments’, from 18 to 21 November at the Villepinte exhibition centre, by companies and delegations that directly or indirectly supply arms to Israel, encourages the perpetration of serious and repeated violations of international law, such as attacks of considerable magnitude on the life and physical or mental integrity of civilians, and the destruction of civilian property located in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and in Lebanon.
The continuation of Israeli strikes on Gaza, despite a ceasefire agreement concluded on 9 October 2025 between Israel and Hamas, which has not been sufficient to protect Palestinians, testifies to the urgency of the situation in Gaza. This ceasefire cannot be invoked to dispute the genocide in Gaza, which continues with a human toll of 69,185 Palestinians killed and 170,698 Palestinians wounded, as of 12 November 2025.
France Renounced Decision to Ban Israeli Companies
Initially the French government banned eight Israeli companies from attending the Milipol show, however it eventually renounced implementing the ban on 13 November. France reasoned that “given the evolving situation on the ground following the cease-fire”, France “has decided to allow all Israeli companies that wish to participate in Milipol to do so”. The French Presidency explained that “this decision aims to contribute to a constructive dialogue with the Israeli authorities on all matters relating to peace in the Middle East and our bilateral relations”.
We recall that France has repeatedly taken a position on the need to halt arms deliveries to Israel, whether by voting in favour of resolution A/ES-10/L.31/Rev.1 adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 18 September 2024, or through a joint statement adopted with the United Kingdom and Canada on 19 May, this year. These positions reflect France's international commitments and the public order provisions of the French Criminal Code on international crimes and on complicity in and concealment of such crimes, as interpreted by the Court of Cassation in the Lafarge case, which all public and private actors are required to comply with.
Milipol Trade Fair on Notice of Violating Legal Provisions of Public Order
However, many of the companies announced at the Milipol trade fair still maintain direct or indirect commercial relations with Israel, and Israeli delegations and intermediaries are allowed to visit the fair and buy weapons there. Promoting Israeli and other companies that continue to supply arms to Israel on the Milipol website for months on end, and even more so, allowing them to visit or exhibit their weapons at the Milipol exhibition, strengthens their economic power and increases their visibility.
The formal notices therefore remind the organisers of the exhibition and the executive that maintaining the participation of these entities would indirectly support the perpetrators or accomplices of genocide and other international crimes committed by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Contracts for the promotion, hosting or exhibition of such entities would be illegal in that they would violate legal provisions of public order.
With 39 exhibitors, Israel is one of the top 10 most represented states at the Milipol trade fair, enabling Israel to promote and export not only military equipment and technology, but also a destructive and colonial ideology.
At Le Bourget, the day before the opening, the government ordered the stands of Israeli companies whose weapons were used in the offensives in Gaza to be covered, but this did not prevent Israeli companies and delegations from signing contracts at the exhibition. However, our organisations point out that “the argument that these companies are only presenting weapons at the exhibition that were not used in the offensives in Gaza is totally unacceptable. On the one hand, it is illusory – unless proof is provided and the measures taken in this regard are detailed – to claim to be able to distinguish, among fungible or interchangeable weapons, those intended for defence from those used in offensives.”
A company that sells military equipment to Israel cannot guarantee that it will be used exclusively in certain territory (e.g., in the West Bank and not in Gaza). Even if these companies could provide such a guarantee, transfers of arms used by Israel in the West Bank remain illegal, since Israel's very presence in the entire Occupied Palestinian Territory is illegal under the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice on 19 July 2024. In addition, the UN Commission of Inquiry has expressed serious concern that ‘the specific intent to destroy the Palestinian people as a whole has spread to the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.’
By allowing these companies and delegations to come to French soil, France is flouting public order provisions. It is reinforcing Israel's genocidal campaign, making itself an accomplice once again, and reinforcing Israeli impunity.