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.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog has resolved its outstanding questions from an investigation into secret nuclear activities in Syria under the Assad family's rule but made no progress in Iran, it said on Tuesday in confidential reports seen by Reuters.
Israeli special forces captured a Hamas militant leader in a raid in Gaza City on Tuesday while Israeli air strikes meant to protect those troops killed four Palestinians, authorities said.
Israel's political scene keeps splintering ahead of the October 27 vote, with retired Brigadier General Ofer Winter becoming the latest figure to enter the race, launching a new party, Amcha Israel.
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