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.
According to him, the license “does not entitle the Israeli army to use these components” in the Gaza Strip or elsewhere. According to the two 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.
A commission of inquiry “relating to the sale of components from the French company Eurolinks to the Israeli army”
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.”
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”.
In the evening of Tuesday, LFI deputy Bastien Lachaud requested the creation of a commission of inquiry “relating to the sale of components from the French company Eurolinks to the Israeli army”, announcing the tabling of a proposed resolution in that Sens. However, his group having already used its annual drawing right allowing it to create a commission of inquiry, this resolution would have to be adopted by the Assembly for the body to be created.
The minister recalled Tuesday having 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 that allows 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.