The French newspaper Le Monde reported that France has minimized its arms exports to Israel since the beginning of the war in Gaza.
According to Le Monde, citing a source in the French government, since the beginning of the war in Gaza, France has been trying to protect the border line by minimizing arms exports to Israel without severing military ties.
Reminding that France abstained from voting on the resolution adopted by the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council on April 5 calling for an arms embargo on Israel, the report said that this situation still “puts the defense cooperation between France and Israel in a difficult situation”.
“With Israel, we help each other a little bit, we sell each other equipment, we are close enough to them to know what they are doing, but we are also competitors, and above all, France has a very clear desire not to support operations in Gaza and to take as little risk as possible in arms deliveries,” the report said.
It was stated in the news report that France suspended the export of components used in the production of artillery shells to Israel after the start of Israel’s attacks on Gaza, and it was claimed that the arms exports were carried out for “defense purposes”.
Underlining that the UN Arms Trade Treaty, which France ratified in 2014, prohibits the sale of arms if it is recognized that they could be used in “attacks against civilians”, the article stated that the French government is believed to be staying within the limits of this treaty and other international conventions.
