PARIS—Heven AeroTech, a maker of hydrogen-powered drones, is often called Israel’s first defense technology unicorn, a term for a private company valued at more than a billion dollars. But when I approached Heven’s display at the Eurosatory arms show last month and asked where the company was located, the representative at the booth cheerfully replied, “Dulles, Virginia.”
This was right, since Heven opened its new headquarters in the United States last year. But embracing its American identity at the arms show had an unknown benefit: The company avoided the fate of nearby Israeli exhibitors, many of whom were walled off from the main floor—part of the ongoing dispute between France and Israel over military operations in Gaza and Lebanon.
PARIS—Heven AeroTech, a maker of hydrogen-powered drones, is often called Israel’s first defense technology unicorn, a term for a private company valued at more than a billion dollars. But when I approached Heven’s display at the Eurosatory arms show last month and asked where the company was located, the representative at the booth cheerfully replied, “Dulles, Virginia.”
This was right, since Heven opened its new headquarters in the United States last year. But embracing its American identity at the arms show had an unknown benefit: The company avoided the fate of nearby Israeli exhibitors, many of whom were walled off from the main floor—part of the ongoing dispute between France and Israel over military operations in Gaza and Lebanon.
The Eurosatory crisis underscored the growing conundrum. International criticism of Israel’s war has been tough on Israel’s arms sales, but has done little to reduce international demand for those weapons. At the same time, France’s decision to bar Israeli companies from arms exhibitions risked turning a legitimate debate about military conflict into a freak show.
French government information Israel before the weapons show that government representatives could not attend and that Israeli companies could not show offensive weapons, the restrictions seem to be free. than in 2024When France banned Israeli companies from participating at all. (French courts later ruled that the move was discriminatory.) However, shortly before this year’s Eurosatory opened, French officials inspected booths to ensure Israeli companies had complied and apparently were not satisfied. The organizers of the show put up barricades around many of the exhibits.
Answering questions from Foreign Policythe French defense ministry said it was clear to Israel that the demonstration would have to be “only used for equipment and devices related to air defense and anti-missile defense.” Outlining its policy, the ministry condemned the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas but cited concerns about Israel’s military operations in Gaza and Lebanon as well as radical settler violence in the West Bank.
“In support of a political resolution to the conflict, we do not export weapons suitable for use by Israel in Gaza, the West Bank, or Lebanon, and we cannot accept the proliferation of such weapons on national soil,” the defense ministry said.
The French sanctions sparked an immediate outcry from Israel, which accused France of unfairly targeting “Defense systems of Israel.” The turn of phrase highlights, if nothing else, how difficult it can be to distinguish between offensive and defensive weapons: One man’s missile is another’s defense against drones.
Some defense companies founded by Israeli businessmen, such as Heven, avoided the controversy because they now identify themselves as American. Shifters, a robotics company based in Washington, DC, is on display at Eurosatory with no obvious indication of its Israeli origins. Next door to the walled-off Israeli exhibit, attendees sipped champagne and wine at a bar inside the store of Ondas, an American company that has bought more than half a dozen Israeli drone-related companies for the technology that was on display at the show.
“The real truth is that everyone is trying to look and feel and smell and taste like they’re American,” one venture capitalist told me on the phone after the show. The investor asked not to be identified because he received threats regarding his investment in Israel.
For those outside the defense business, it can be hard to imagine that a gun show is a place where certain types of weapons are avoided. Events like this have long conflated guns, business, and war—and there’s usually no better sales pitch than being able to say that one’s weapons are battle-proven. More than 80 Ukrainian companies he came out strong in Eurosatory with slogans such as “Freedom is paid for, not given” and “Love at first strike.”
One of the most popular shows was the Ukrainian company Hot spotwhich was holding a “daily rocket aperitivo” at its booth, where it displayed a bright pink mock-up of its ground-launched “Flamingo” cruise missile. A cute flamingo toy holding a missile sat on top of the model.
European governments see Ukraine as fighting a just war, but not Israel. His military operations in Lebanon, as well as in Gaza – where the death toll has now exceeded 70,000, according to local health authorities – have sparked outrage. Canada, France, Italy and Spain have all restricted arms deals and cooperation with Israel. Even in the United States, a major ally, public support for Israel is slipping, and some politicians they call for fixing the relationship between the two countries.
Publicly, Israeli companies tend to refuse to back down politically, but the industry is clearly changing. Many new Israeli defense technology startups are choosing to register in the United States, thereby shedding their Israeli identity. “Everybody hires the president of America, and before they know it, they lose the American part of their name,” the investor said. “It’s the sophomoric one.”
It is not only the growing unpopularity of Israel’s military operations that is pushing its defense companies to look abroad. The Israeli tech startup’s move toward U.S. incorporation began in 2023, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition pushed through court reforms that raised concerns about the rule of law in Israel. Critics warned that the reforms could weaken intellectual property rights, alienate foreign investors, and drive Israel’s growing technology sector abroad.
“Many companies were afraid of the situation in Israel,” said Gidi Shalom Bendor, founder and CEO of Israel-based S Cube, which advises startups. “More than 80 percent of that time was registered as a Delaware company.”
That trend has slowed since the height of the court dispute, though, and established Israeli defense companies are quick to point out that exports are. still strong. Sales of Israeli defense products have quadrupled in the past decade, and the Israeli Ministry of Defense recently announced a record $19.2 billion in arms sales by 2025, nearly a third more than the previous year.
Tomer Malchi, Israel-based CEO ASIO technologywhich makes navigation systems for drones, said its company has not experienced any problems with exports. “Asia is very interested in Israeli technology, and we have a lot of interaction with businesses from Asian countries, which (don’t) care about domestic politics or American politics or European politics,” Malchi said. “They just want to get a good product that they can rely on.”
Even in Europe, Malchi added, the company sees great interest, especially among NATO members in the eastern part of the alliance. Those countries, “are more concerned about building capacity, independence, and stability than politics,” he said.
Boaz Levy, head of the state-owned company Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), expressed confusion over France’s actions at the Eurosatory, but he also did not think it was a big problem. IAI was among the Israeli companies that did not have a wall at the arms show, but its display was extra.
“We don’t like it,” he said when I spoke to him after the show. “Even more than that, we reject this kind of behavior, but business is business, and we came to Paris to meet our partners and meet many companies and customers, and we did it.”
