The French Minister of the Armed Forces on Tuesday denied the sale to Israel of components for cartridge parts, considered by the investigative sites Disclose and Marsactu as “likely to be used against civilians in the Gaza Strip”.
The license allowing the sale of these parts, which would have been sent by the company Eurolinks to the Israeli group IMI Systems from the port of Marseille, “only concerns re-export to third countries”, affirmed Sébastien Lecornu during a press conference.
The minister says the license “does not entitle the Israeli army to use these components” in the Gaza Strip or elsewhere.
100,000 pieces of cartridge for submachine guns
According to the two investigative sites, “France authorized, at the end of October 2023, the delivery to Israel of at least 100,000 pieces of cartridges for machine guns likely to be used against civilians in Gaza”.
They describe “small metal parts used to connect machine gun bullets” and allow “burst fire”.
And they publish supporting photos dating from October 23, after the unprecedented attack by the Islamist movement Hamas on Israel.
On February 27, before the Defense Committee of the National Assembly, Sébastien Lecornu assured that Paris intended to be “irreproachable” in terms of the delivery of military components to Israel.
Some could have been delivered until very recently, he admitted, referring to “elementary components” such as “ball bearings, glazing, cooling systems, potentiometers, pressure sensors”.
But “in general, these are weapons which are intended to be re-exported from Israel to other clients”.
“A few licenses” for the Israeli Iron Dome
The president of the LFI group, Mathilde Panot, denounced on Tuesday a “huge scandal” and accused the Minister of the Armed Forces of having “lied” during this hearing.
The spokesperson for the socialist group in the Assembly, Arthur Delaporte, for his part demanded “that France put an end to all arms deliveries to Israel”.
🇵🇸 Weapons deliveries to Israel: we learned today that France delivered at least 100,000 pieces of cartridges used for machine guns to Israel on October 23.
This information contradicts all the government's responses to our repeated questions.
From… pic.twitter.com/6KBcverJVa
— Mathilde Panot (@MathildePanot) March 26, 2024
The minister recalled Tuesday that he had asked the competent services “to be even more rigorous in the way of questioning the use of these components” since the start of the war between Hamas and Israel.
Only “a few licenses could be given” for the Israeli Iron Dome, a device allowing the interception of rockets and missiles aimed at Israel and which “protects civilians”.
In 2022, exports of components to Israel represented 15 million euros, or “0.2% of overall exports”, recalled Sébastien Lecornu.
The information from Disclose and Marsactu could not be verified by AFP.