Report uncovers new French military shipments to 'Israel'

• France approved 35 new military equipment exports to ‘Israel’ between May and September 2026, according to a joint investigation by the Palestinian Youth Movement and Urgence Palestine.
• The report builds on an April investigation that found more than 525 military-use shipments between October 2023 and March 2026, and it shows that 33 of the 35 new shipments passed through Paris's CDG airport, 32 of them on El Al.

France has authorized 35 new military equipment exports to ‘Israel’ in the past five months, with every item destined for subsidiaries of arms giant Elbit Systems, according to an investigation by rights groups.

Between May and September 2026, French authorities cleared the shipments, which were documented in a joint inquiry by the Palestinian Youth Movement and the French collective Urgence Palestine. 

The inquiry traces deliveries from French firms to the ‘Israeli’ armed forces, covering cooling units for tanks and missile launchers, visors for helicopter and fighter pilots' helmets, electronic components and connectors, and surveillance technology.

The report’s full findings are due to be released next week and will show that the goods were produced in five French regions by French manufacturers. Among them is the defense group Thales, which made and which made and shipped control panels used for operating weapons remotely. 

Previous report

These findings follow a first joint investigation by the same two organisations, published in April, which concluded that France exported more than 525 shipments of military-use equipment to ‘Israel’ between October 2023 and March 2026. That earlier report also logged 117 flights carrying F-35 fighter-jet parts out of Paris's Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport (CDG).

The new inquiry names four additional suppliers and finds that 33 of the 35 shipments went through CDG, with El Al, ‘Israel's’ national carrier, handling 32 of them.

The report was made public on Thursday at the opening of a "nationwide month of protest against French arms sales to ‘Israel’." The campaign is run by a coalition of French trade unions, human rights groups and activist organisations, among them Urgence Palestine, BDS France, Stop Arming ‘Israel’ and the Association France Palestine Solidarité.

Speaking at the launch, Salah Hammouri, a French-Palestinian human rights lawyer who spent years in ‘Israeli’ prison, criticised President Emmanuel Macron's stance. He said Macron claims to be ashamed of ‘Israel's’ deadly conduct yet has no such shame about allowing 525 shipments of military components bound for ‘Israeli’ factories to leave France over two years. 

Last week at the UN General Assembly, Macron called the situation in Gaza a "spectacle that shames us all."

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