French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday reversed a government decision to exclude eight Israeli firms from the Milipol defense exhibition in Paris. This followed intervention by French-Jewish lawmaker Meyer Habib, who explained to JNS how the issue was resolved.
A lawyer for one of the eight firms contacted Habib on Tuesday after his client had received an email from organizers disinviting the client from Milipol a day before the show opened on Wednesday, he told JNS. The defense ministry had forced the show’s organizers to block the participation of the eight firms.
Habib texted Macron and waited for 2.5 hours, he related. “He didn’t reply, so I went public and posted a screenshot of my text to him,” said Habib, a former leader of French Jewry and a personal friend of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Several hours later, Macron replied: “Sorted, regards.” In parallel, the Israeli firms were reinvited, said Habib.
This was the fourth time that Israeli firms have faced exclusion from defense events since Oct. 7, 2023, when the Hamas onslaught on Israel triggered a regional war.
Israeli firms have fought previous boycotts both in the media and through legal challenges, including in an appeal that ended with a court-issued injunction against a ban on Israeli firms at a security show in June.
But, Habib noted, “the current affair was the first time after the fighting was paused in Gaza, and [while] a de-escalation process was underway,” including between Macron and Netanyahu personally. “So, what I think happened is that officials in the Foreign Ministry, and perhaps the Elysee [Palace, where the presidency is headquartered], pursued their anti-Israel policies but without necessarily clearing it with the president,” he added.
The correspondence between Habib and Macron drew commentary on X for its informal tone: Habib addressed the president with the familiar “tu” rather than “vous” and Macron addressed Habib with the word “bises,” an abbreviation of “bisous,” which means “kisses” and is used among close friends and relatives as a chummy greeting.
Asked about this, Habib told JNS, “Look, we know each other well. And the president knows that when I criticize him, I criticize him vociferously, but when he’s due credit—I give it.”
Macron recently recognized Palestinian statehood despite the objections of Israel and French Jewry, who warned this would embolden terrorism. Habib condemned this move in the interview with JNS, calling Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas a “corrupt Holocaust denier” who “has no business being recognized by France.”
In 2017, Macron was the first European head of state to say that anti-Zionism was a form of antisemitism.
The resolution of this latest ban attempt, which Habib coordinated with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, signified “that Israeli-French relations, although they are at an unprecedented low point, can be restored, will be restored, and that even when times are tough, it’s important to keep the channels of communication open,” said Habib.
As diplomats in France and Israel prepare to repair bilateral ties, “a very serious problem is the boycotts, which are crossing over from anti-Israel sentiment to antisemitism, as Jewish performers are spurned,” Habib continued. “It is unacceptable that the French government should be a part of this problem.”
