French activists call for protests against military exports to Israel

French activist organizations, including AFPS, BDS-France, Stop Arming Israel France, and Urgence Palestine, have called for a month of coordinated actions across France in October 2026. The campaign aims to protest and block military shipments to Israel and denounce French complicity in the conflict.

A report released by Palestinian collectives details the scale of French military-related exports to Israel between October 2023 and March 2026. According to the report, which utilizes Israeli tax authority data, 525 shipments of military-use material were sent from France to Israel. The defense giant Elbit Systems and its local subsidiaries were identified as the primary purchasers of these components.

Thirteen French companies were specifically named in the report, including Thales, Safran, and Aubert & Duval. The report notes that approximately 92% of these shipments transited through Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport via El Al flights.

In response to these findings, the French government and the Ministry of the Armed Forces have maintained that these flows do not constitute direct sales of lethal weapons. Authorities argue that the components are either strictly defensive, such as armor or night vision equipment, or are dual-use technological goods intended for integration and legal re-export.