Hundreds protest Israeli firms at UK arms show

Israel had cancelled its national pavilion after London banned Israeli officials from attending.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Hundreds of anti-Israel protesters demonstrated in London Tuesday against the presence of Israeli defense firms at the opening of the four-day Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) trade show.

About 300 people joined the rally, organized by groups including Campaign Against Arms Trade and Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Protesters opposed both war in general and what they called the “genocide” Israel is committing in Gaza.

British media reported last week that the UK government explicitly rejected allegations of genocide in the Gaza Strip. Deputy Prime Minister and former Foreign Secretary David Lammy wrote that a comprehensive assessment concluded Israel is not acting with that intent in its war against Hamas.

Protestors, contained by light metal barricades, held Palestinian flags and signs such as “Murder Fair ’25, War criminals this way,” with arrows pointing at the exhibition hall entrance, and banners calling to “Stop Arming Israel.” Many wore keffiyehs and masks to hide their faces.

They shouted slogans including “Shame on you” and “Intifada” while banging drums and slowly pushing the barricades closer to the entrance. Police were eventually forced to push some of the protesters back.

Protest organizers vowed to come each day of the exhibition.

With 51 companies showcasing their products, Israeli firms form the fifth-largest contingent at the biennial DSEI show.

Exhibitors include major firms such as Elbit Systems, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries, as well as smaller companies such as Uvision, which produces loitering munitions; Plana, which supplies vehicle armor; and Smartshooter, which develops small-arms targeting systems.

Although Rafael and IAI are state-owned, they joined the show despite Jerusalem’s decision 11 days earlier to cancel its national pavilion.

The Defense Ministry pulled out after London barred Israeli government and military officials from attending, citing Israel’s “decision to further escalate its military operation in Gaza.”

The ministry called the British restrictions “a deliberate and regrettable act of discrimination.”

It said the move “plays into the hands of extremists, grants legitimacy to terrorism and introduces political considerations wholly inappropriate for a professional defense industry exhibition.”

In June, to show its own displeasure at Israel’s actions in Gaza, the French government ordered the organizers of the Paris Air Show to wall off the area taken by four Israeli firms just hours before the show after they refused a demand to remove their offensive weapons exhibits.

Late last month, organizers of the Netherlands‘ largest defense exhibition, which will take place in November, disinvited Israeli defense firms, citing “security issues and organizational difficulties” as the reason.

Israel’s defense exports hit a record $14.7 billion last year, with 54% of 2024 contracts inked with European countries.