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Seven Israeli firms were excluded from showing naval equipment at European arms trade show
Emmanuel Macron is a “disgrace to the French nation”, Israel’s defence minister said on Wednesday after Paris banned Israeli firms from exhibiting at a weapons show.
Israeli defence firms will not be allowed to display equipment at a naval arms trade show next month, the organisers said on Wednesday, the second such ban from a major defence show this year.
“French President Macron’s actions are a disgrace to the French nation and the values of the free world, which he claims to uphold,” Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defence minister, said.
“The decision to discriminate against Israeli defence industries in France a second time – aids Israel’s enemies during war,” he continued.
Mr Gallant also reiterated Israel’s disapproval of Macron’s calls for France to impose an arms embargo on the country.
“France has adopted, and is consistently implementing a hostile policy towards the Jewish people. We will continue defending our nation against enemies on seven different fronts, and fighting for our future – with or without France,” he added.
In May, Paris said the conditions were not right for Israeli firms to take part in the Eurosatory military trade show when President Macron was calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Euronaval, the organiser of the event set to take place in the French capital from Nov 4-7, said the French government had informed it that Israeli delegations were not allowed to exhibit stands or show equipment, but could attend the trade show.
Seven firms were affected by the decision, according to the organisers.
It comes after French efforts to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah failed and as the Jewish state carried out more air strikes on targets in Lebanon.
On Wednesday, Israel was accused of deliberately targeting a council meeting in an attack which killed the mayor of Nabatiyeh, a city in southern Lebanon.
Najib Mikati, Lebanon’s prime minister, said he “condemned the new Israeli aggression against civilians in the city of Nabatiyeh, which deliberately targeted a meeting of the municipal council”.
Howaida Turk, Nabatiyeh’s governor, said that the mayor “among others… was martyred”.
At least 16 people were killed in the strikes, according to the Lebanese health authorities, as Israel carried out a total of 11 strikes on the city.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had hit dozens of Hezbollah targets in Nabatiyeh, including command centres, and weapons storage facilities, which were “embedded by Hezbollah adjacent to civilian infrastructure”.
Meanwhile, 15 people were killed in the southern Lebanese town of Qana as Israel expanded strikes across Lebanon.
Israeli air strikes also targeted an underground Hezbollah weapons stockpile in Dahieh, a key stronghold for the Iran-backed group.
The Israeli military also targeted Beirut for the first time in nearly a week after Washington said it had “made clear that we are opposed to the campaign the way we’ve seen it conducted over the past weeks” in the Lebanese capital.
The deputy chief of staff of the IDF said that Israel must keep fighting Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
“Destroying their [Hezbollah’s] infrastructure and plans. This is what we have to do, there is no other way,” said Major General Amir Baram as he toured a destroyed Hezbollah special forces headquarters in south Lebanon.
Hezbollah also continued attacking Israel, firing 90 rockets that sent hundreds of thousands of people into bomb shelters.
It came as Iran warned it is “fully prepared for a decisive and regretful response to any adventures” by Israel.
Israel is expected to launch a “significant” attack on Iran in response to Tehran firing 180 ballistic missiles at Israel earlier this month.
Tehran also dismissed the impact potential Israeli strikes on its nuclear facilities could have, saying it would quickly rebuild them in such an event.
Behrouz Kamalvandi, an Iranian diplomat, said that the probability of such an attack remained low but any potential damage would be “quickly compensated”, according to Nournews.
Mr Kamalvandi reportedly said that the International Atomic Energy Agency – the UN’s nuclear watchdog – has a “duty” to condemn any threats of attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) meanwhile said it “will not hesitate” to support Iran’s allies in their conflict with Israel.
“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps…will not hesitate to support the Islamic resistance decisively… in bravely standing up against this fake regime (Israel),” the IRGC said in a statement.