“Israel has become the most boycotted country in the world," headlines an investigation by the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. Along with its right wing ministers (Itamar Ben-Gvir), antisemites are boycotting its leftist directors (Nadav Lapid), its pacifist writers (Eshkol Nevo) and its universities. The New York Times has run an article on writers who can’t find publishers and book fairs that can’t find authors to invite.
Yet while Israeli culture is treated like contaminated goods, its weapons are courted without shame.
Meanwhile, at Eurosatory, the major arms fair in Paris, barriers have been erected around the stands of Israeli defence companies. “The French say it’s because of Gaza," an Israeli executive told The Economist, “but their real problem is that we’re competing for contracts - and we’re winning." He added that even Macron’s presidential jet uses an Israeli system to protect itself from anti-aircraft missiles.
Israel is expecting new orders for air and missile defence systems from European countries in the near future, a senior Israeli Defence Ministry official revealed to Reuters. Demand continues to grow as European nations perceive a greater threat from Russia and seek to strengthen their air defences.
“There is enormous interest from Western Europe," said Moshe Patel, director general of the Israel Missile Defence Organization. Israel has sold its Arrow air defence system - designed to intercept medium-range ballistic missiles such as the Russian Oreshnik - to Germany. Finland has purchased the shorter-range David’s Sling system, designed to shoot down ballistic missiles launched from 100 to 200 kilometres away, as European countries prepare for a possible Russian aggression.
“It’s mainly due to what’s happening between Russia and Ukraine," Patel said. “Naturally they are watching very closely what is happening in Iran, and anything that works against Russia could also work against Iran. Whatever they do will be useful against all these types of threats."
Patel said there is also interest in the Iron Dome, designed to neutralise short-range threats. “It represents an enormous advantage for those nations that have enemies on their borders: this is its main capability, along with the ability to protect a city or a strategic area," he added.
When Macron accused the Germans of promoting a “third-party industry at the expense of European sovereignty" for buying an Israeli missile defence system instead of the one France is developing with Italy, German officials simply shrugged. “Russian ballistic missiles represent an immediate threat," the Germans say, and Israel was able to offer a battle-tested system, while the French one is still on paper.
Israel is now the world’s seventh-largest arms exporter. It supplies more weapons to Germany and Britain than France does, accounting for 55% of German imports and 8.2% of British ones. Israel is such a military power that it sells more arms to European NATO states than France itself - which is in Europe and in NATO. Israel is the third-largest supplier to European NATO armies.
Say it again: Israel is the third-largest supplier to European NATO armies.
Boycotting the culture of the Middle East’s only democracy - its liberal, pluralistic, hyper-critical and pacifist culture - is easy. Doing without its weapons is harder. Boycotting culture costs nothing: it only requires the virtue of a public gesture and puts no one’s security at risk. Giving up the most effective weapons, on the other hand, has a price that European defence ministries, faced with the Russian shadow and Middle Eastern instability, do not seem willing to pay.
The distinction between what can be condemned in words and what must be purchased in silence reveals, more than any statement, where ideologies end and where the calculus of survival begins - and the sentinel and laboratory role that Israel plays for Western democracies.
How do you defend a culture? For Israel, also with weapons. For a certain West, with trigger warnings and safe spaces.
And while the Pentagon is reportedly ready to reduce the number of fighter jets deployed in Europe, according to the New York Times, European air defense is a mosaic of American Patriots and the Israeli Iron Dome.
And what about active protection systems for European tanks? Israel’s Trophy system, mounted on American Abrams, German Leopards, and British Challengers. And the targeting pod, the target acquisition system? From Rafael, used by air forces across Europe.
And counter-drone systems? A market dominated by Israeli and American companies.Israel has faced drones from Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, the Houthis, and other Iran-backed actors. It has seen the skies over Tel Aviv become crowded and dangerous. When European governments ask how to defend airports, bases, cities, and troops, it is hardly surprising that Israeli solutions are so appealing.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been fighting on seven fronts simultaneously against a network equipped with Russian S-300 air defense systems, Chinese ballistic missiles, and Iranian drone technology.
Israel cannot afford the luxury of weakness. Can Europe?