(16 Jun 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Paris – 16 June 2025
1. Tilt down on graffiti being written in chalk on black partition put up around the stand of Israeli defense company Rafael at the Paris Air Show
2. Mid of graffiti in English written on the partition wall
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Shlomo Toaff, senior executive at Israeli defense company Rafael:
"Nobody told us that we were going to be shut out from our display, shut out."
(Reporter’s asking: "When did you learn ? How did you learn? Just arriving here?")
Shlomo Toaff: "Arriving here this morning instead of getting into our display, which is not that small, we couldn’t enter it. It’s hermetically closed "
4. Mid of two women writing on the partition praising Israel’s Rafael Defense Systems
5. Mid of a person drawing the Israeli flag on the black partition surrounding Rafael
++COVERED++
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Shlomo Toaff, senior executive at Israeli defense company Rafael:
"We hope that maybe somebody will come to their senses and reopen our show. I think that what is happening here is outrageous. Anybody that is for a free world, free business, freedom of speech should be outraged by this display."
7. Mid of security personnel covering up the graffiti with black plastic tarps
8. Various of attendees walking past the Israel Ministry of Defense booth
STORYLINE:
French authorities ordered black partition walls erected around some Israeli defense industry exhibits at the Paris Air Show, a move denounced by Israel’s Defense Ministry, which demanded an immediate reversal.
A French appeals court had ruled Friday against activist groups who sought to block Israeli companies from participating in the show due to the war in Gaza.
The Paris Air Show, held at Le Bourget north of Paris, is one of the world’s largest and most prestigious events for the aerospace and defense industry.
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 are hiding behind supposedly political considerations to exclude Israeli offensive weapons from an international exhibition — weapons that compete with French industries,” the ministry said in a statement Monday, calling the action “ugly and improper.”
A French official said the decision came from the General Secretariat for Defense and National Security, under the prime minister.
The official spoke to AP on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the details.
The 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.
Shlomo Toaff, a senior executive at Israel’s Rafael defense company said he was not aware this was going to happen but was shut out when they arrived.
"We hope that maybe somebody will come to their senses and reopen our show," said Toaff, who is the Executive Vice President and Head of Rafael’s Air Defense Systems Division.
"Anybody that is for a free world, free business, freedom of speech should be outraged by this display," he added.
AP Video shot by Nicolas Garriga
Production by Jeffrey Schaeffer
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