Israel has cut its military purchases from France to zero. Not reduced. Not suspended. Zero. The funds will be redirected toward domestic Israeli procurement or purchases from "allied countries", a category from which France has now been explicitly excluded.
The rupture did not happen overnight. It is the product of a sustained and deliberate French policy © Mena Today
Israel has cut its military purchases from France to zero. Not reduced. Not suspended. Zero. The funds will be redirected toward domestic Israeli procurement or purchases from "allied countries", a category from which France has now been explicitly excluded.
The Israeli Defense Ministry was blunt: France has acted "on multiple occasions" to "undermine Israel's security and the operational capacity of its defense industries." These are not the words one uses about a partner. They are the words one uses about an adversary.
The rupture did not happen overnight. It is the product of a sustained and deliberate French policy: the recognition of Palestinian statehood in September 2025, the closure of French airspace to aircraft carrying munitions to Israel for the Iran war, imposed "despite prior coordination" and "despite the understanding that this effort contributes to Europe's own security."
Behind every one of these decisions: Emmanuel Macron and his Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot. Together, they have steered France onto a path of escalating hostility toward Israel that serves no identifiable French strategic interest, but fits perfectly into Macron's personal ambition to be remembered as a champion of the Global South and the Palestinian cause.
The problem is that vanity is not a foreign policy.
Trump called France "very uncooperative." Israel stopped buying French weapons. Washington is frustrated. Jerusalem is furious. And France, once a significant player in Middle Eastern affairs, finds itself diplomatically sidelined at the worst possible moment.
Macron wanted to make history in the Middle East. He has. Just not in the way he intended.
France and Italy have joined Spain in pushing back on U.S.-Israeli military operations, sources said on Tuesday, as U.S. President Donald Trump singled out NATO allies in Europe as unhelpful in the month-long war, highlighting divisions.
Lebanon has formally notified the United Nations that its government considers all military activities by Hezbollah to be illegal.
France did not allow Israel to use its air space to transport American weapons to be used in the war against Iran, a Western diplomat and two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.
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