Israel pulls out of major UK defense exhibition

Israel has withdrawn from a major military exhibition in London after British government officials imposed restrictions on its participation, the Defense Ministry in Jerusalem said on Friday.

The restrictions at the DSEI UK 2025 exhibition, scheduled to take place on Sept. 9-12, “amount to a deliberate and regrettable act of discrimination against Israel’s representatives,” a defense ministry statement read. “Accordingly, the Israel Ministry of Defense (IMOD) will withdraw from the exhibition and will not establish a national pavilion,” it continued.

Israeli industries that are not state-owned and “that choose to participate will, however, receive the Ministry’s full support,” the statement added.

“At a time when Israel is engaged on multiple fronts against Islamist extremists and terrorist organizations—forces that also threaten the West and international shipping lanes—this decision by Britain plays into the hands of extremists, grants legitimacy to terrorism and introduces political considerations wholly inappropriate for a professional defense industry exhibition,” it continued.

DSEI (Defence and Security Equipment International) is a biennial event that draws hundreds of firms from dozens of countries.

Last year, the French government announced that Israeli companies could exhibit at November’s Euronaval defense exhibition near Paris only if they have not participated in the wars against terrorists in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. Citing constitutional principles of equality, a Paris court reversed the decision on Oct. 30.

In June 2025, organizers of the Paris Air Show walled off parts of Israeli pavilions, sparking a diplomatic incident.

France, the U.K. and Spain are among the countries that have imposed partial or full weapons embargos on Israel in connection with its war against Hamas in Gaza following the terrorist group’s invasion of the northwestern Negev on Oct. 7, 2023. Thousands of Gazan terrorists murdered 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official figures, and kidnapped 251 others, among other atrocities.

© JNS