French weapons used by the Israeli army are only defensive, assures Sébastien Lecornu

The Minister of the Armed Forces thus responds to the publication of an investigation by Disclose and Marsactu, ensuring that France had authorized the delivery to Israel of parts used to connect machine gun cartridges together.

The reaction was not long in coming. The day after the publication of an investigation by Disclose ensuring that France had authorized, at the end of October, the delivery to Israel of parts used to connect machine gun cartridges together, the Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, assured in a conference press release, Tuesday March 26, that “the French license which was given [pour cette livraison] does not entitle the Israeli army to use these components”, but only authorizes “re-export” to third countries.

The minister also promised that other components delivered to Israel by Paris were only used “in purely defensive systems”as the “Iron Dome”which protects the country from rockets.

“Even more rigorous” controls

In the article published Monday, Disclose and Marsactu claimed that France was equipping “secretly machine guns used by the Israeli army”, “in total contradiction with the government’s commitments”. Supporting photos, they argued that France had authorized, at the end of October, the delivery to Israel of at least 100,000 parts from a Marseille company used to connect machine gun bullets, likely to be used against civilians in Gaza.

Already on February 27, the Minister of the Armed Forces assured that theFrance intended to be “irreproachable” in the delivery of components intended for Israel’s military equipment. However, he recognized that basic components had been delivered until very recently, such as “ball bearings, glazing, cooling systems, potentiometers, pressure sensors”.

“In general, these are weapons which are intended to be re-exported from Israel to other clients”, he clarified. The minister also declared that since October 7, he had asked his services “to be even more rigorous in the way we question the use of these components”.