What weapons is France sending to Israel ? “Defensive” equipment, but not only

The Minister of Armed Forces eacute;es Sébastien Lecornu has been assuring for months that France is not sending weapons to Israel, but is content to supply defensive equipment. However, the use that can be made of certain equipment raises questions.

“We must stop supplying weapons to fight in Gaza,” declared Emmanuel Macron. But this sentence, pronounced on the airwaves of France Inter on Saturday, October 5th &was it, in part, intended for France ? Not according to the Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, who has been denying arming Israel for months. "We are not delivering weapons" he hammered home again on the same radio on Thursday, October 10th. However, he acknowledges that military equipment is being sent to the Jewish State: "We deliver components for purely defensive systems" intended for &eac;equip with "Iron Dome" which is the "Israeli sky defense system" or even “armor plates”.

The Minister of the Armed Forces is therefore formal and denies the statements of certain opposition political forces who accuse him of arming the Hebrew state. “Despite what La France Insoumise has been saying for a year, there are no weapons delivered to Israel” maintains Sébastien Lecornu. The fact remains that it is difficult to verify with certainty the destination of military equipment sent to Israel and that some equipment is considered offensive rather than defensive.

While he firmly denies sending weapons to Israel to fuel the fighting in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Minister Sébastien Lecornu acknowledges that military resources are being delivered. And these exports are recorded in reports communicated to Parliament, but containing only financial information and not a detailed inventory. The most recent, submitted in the summer of 2023, however, indicates that 189.8 million euros of military equipment were supplied to the Hebrew State between 2013 and 2022 and that orders were placed over the same period for a total of 207.6 million euros.

These amounts, although substantial, do not, however, allow for the precise quantification of the supplies delivered or their nature. The only information available This subject is given by the equipment category reported: the report mentions a category 5 which, according to the commonly accepted European nomenclature, designates “fire control, surveillance and warning equipment” and “test systems and equipment”. Titles which evoke equipment used in deterrent purposes, but may be suitable for both defensive and more offensive operations.

Shipments of “bombs, torpedoes, rockets, missiles” and other “explosive charges”

The deputy of La France insoumise Aur&eacutelien Saintoul had also pointed out, after reading the report, the nature of certain equipment delivered or ordered, in particular those corresponding to the category of the military list ML 4, that is to say “bombs, torpedoes, rockets, missiles, other explosive devices and charges and related material and accessories and their specially designed components”. The minister had replied that “the exported materials are not weapons in the strict sense, but basic components”. “The interministerial commission for the study of exports of war materials (CIEEMG) pays particular attention depending on the material in which it is estimated that they will be integrated,” he continued in his response, assuring, once again, that “the components of equipment falling under the ML4 category, if authorized, are intended for purely defensive use.”

The delivery of equipment for purely defensive use is France's main argument for explaining its exports of military equipment to Israel. But this speech did not hold after the revelations of Disclose, in March 2024, on the sending by France to the Hebrew State of components for machine guns, even to return 100,000 cartridges adapted to Israeli weapons. The Minister of the Armed Forces had then retorted that these products were intended for “re-export” on components supplied to Israeli industries which then sell to third countries. But in the absence of controls on the actual re-export of products, some fear that this offensive material could have been used by Israel and for the conflict opposing it to Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.