Israel to take legal action against Macron over naval trade show ban
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz says he ordered legal proceedings against French President Emmanuel Macron after France banned Israeli firms from participating in an upcoming naval trade show.
“[These] are undemocratic steps that are not acceptable between friendly countries and I call on French President Macron to cancel them completely,” he wrote on X in Hebrew.
The decision to bar Israeli firms is the latest incident in a row fuelled by the Macron government’s unease over Israel’s conduct in the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
War’s expansion to the north cost Israel $6.7bn since September
Israeli media is reporting that these additional costs have led to an expansion in the country’s annual budget given the lack of funding sources.
The report added that the cost of the ammunition being used in Lebanon is “extremely high”, referring to an unnamed military source who said “a day of fighting in Lebanon costs $134m – a number that is likely to increase”.
The paper also cited an unnamed economic expert as saying that long-term fighting in the north and the south at the same time will have adverse effects on the Israeli economy.
That's almost a billion a week.
Amnesty International urges European countries to halt arms sales to Israel
Amnesty International has expressed concern over continued arms sales by European nations to Israel amid attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, calling for a complete “arms embargo” due to “severe human rights violations”.
“States should unilaterally impose an embargo on Israel that would include not just weapons and systems that are coming from their states, but stopping participation in supply chains into weapon systems that eventually end up in Israel,” Patrick Wilcken, Amnesty International arms control policy adviser and human rights researcher, said in an interview with Anadolu news agency.
European countries are part of the 2013 Arms Trade Treaty, which prohibits them from authorising the transfer of arms that could be used in attacks against civilian targets.
