PARIS, France: France Tuesday denied allegations that it supplied components for ammunition used by the Israeli army in its Gaza war.
France’s defence minister Sebastien Lecornu denied allegations from investigative journalists that France supplied arms to the Israeli army for use in its Gaza campaign.
According to Marseille-based firm Eurolinks, France had sold Israel M27 links, metal pieces used to join rifle cartridges into ammunition belts for machine guns.
They claimed that such ammunition could have been used against civilians in Gaza.
The investigative outlets’ report was backed by photographs of the links which they said were taken on October 23, weeks after Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war.
However, the Defence Minister told media in Paris that Eurolinks’ licence to export to Israeli firm IMI Systems “only covers re-export to third countries” rather than use by the Israeli army.
Left-wingers have asked France to follow Canada and stop arms exports to Israel.
A leader of the France Unbowed (LFI) opposition party, MP Mathilde Panot, described the exports as a “massive scandal”, accusing the France defence minister of “lying” in a recent parliamentary hearing.
The minister told the National Assembly lower house’s defence committee in February that thecountry’s policy on arms for Israel was “irreproachable”, with recent deliveries covering items like ball bearings, sensors, glass and cooling systems.
He further said that in general, these arms were planned to be re-exported from Israel to other customers.
