Paris — On the banks of the Seine, French President Emmanuel Macron is walking a geopolitical tightrope. With mounting international scrutiny over France’s defence exports, the Élysée is now besieged by allegations of duplicity, fuelled by revelations that French-made components may have been used in the Gaza genocide, and that arms deliveries to Russia quietly persisted even after EU sanctions were imposed.
As the war in Gaza nears its tenth month, a new legal complaint filed in Paris has reignited outrage. The League for Human Rights (LDH), along with Palestinian advocacy organizations, is demanding a full criminal investigation into French company Eurolinks for allegedly supplying components later used by Israel’s military in its widely condemned attacks on Gaza civilians. The case accuses the firm, and by extension, the French government, of complicity in war crimes, citing France’s legal obligation under international humanitarian law.
President Macron has publicly denied wrongdoing. In a March 2024 statement, he insisted that “France did not deliver offensive weaponry” to Israel during its siege on Gaza, a denial reiterated by Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu. As reported by Le Monde, the government claims only spare parts for defensive systems such as Israel’s Iron Dome were exported, with no knowledge of end-use violations.
But human rights groups and French trade unions say otherwise. Dockworkers in Marseille and Le Havre refused to load shipments they believed were bound for Israeli military use. The union’s internal documents, leaked to Disclose, suggest that shipping invoices listed parts linked to IMI Systems, a subsidiary of Israel’s state-owned arms manufacturer, known for supplying weaponry used in Gaza’s destruction. The number of Palestinian deaths—now exceeding 51,000, including 20,000 children—has only heightened the pressure for accountability.
Arms to Russia amid sanctions?
As Macron condemns Russia on the European stage, another revelation is complicating France’s image as a moral actor: the quiet continuation of arms deliveries to Moscow even after the 2014 EU sanctions over Crimea. France sold thermal imaging equipment, aircraft navigation systems, and explosive materials to Russia as recently as 2020.
President Macron’s office, confronted with the evidence in 2022, claimed all shipments were part of pre-sanction contracts that could not be lawfully broken. In a 2022 statement carried by Anadolu News, Macron insisted, “France has complied with all EU regulations and never violated the sanctions regime.”
Yet critics point out that other EU countries, including Germany and Sweden, halted similar contracts early in the war. France’s decision to continue arms exports until 2020 now appears out of step with its professed solidarity with Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Gazeta reported this week that Russia is using components of French origin in its advanced surveillance drones deployed in the Donbas region, adding fuel to calls within the European Parliament to reexamine France’s compliance with arms embargoes.
Macron urges EU to abandon US defence pacts as arms scandal deepens
The scandal comes as Macron doubles down on his broader campaign to assert European “strategic autonomy” in defence policy. At a security summit in March 2025, he called on EU allies to reject American defence contracts in favor of European systems like the Franco-Italian SAMP/T and the Dassault Rafale.
“Europe must not be a vassal of Washington,” Macron declared, urging countries like Poland and Greece to cancel F-35 orders and instead invest in domestically built aircraft and missiles. According to Mint, Macron’s strategy aligns with a larger vision: reducing NATO dependency while building a pan-European military-industrial complex led by France.
Yet the timing of this appeal—amid simultaneous allegations of French complicity in Israeli and Russian aggression—raises difficult questions. Can Macron credibly call for sovereignty and ethical defence policies while his own country faces accusations of enabling two of the 21st century’s most brutal military campaigns?
Macron faces domestic revolt and EU rift over Gaza and Russia arms links
The fallout is not limited to diplomacy. Domestically, Macron’s approval ratings have plummeted to 28 percent, the lowest since the Yellow Vest protests. Public opposition to Israel’s war on Gaza is fierce in France’s diverse urban centers. Demonstrations in Paris and Lyon have drawn hundreds of thousands demanding a full arms embargo and an end to France’s silence on the genocide in Gaza.
Internationally, France now finds itself isolated. Spain, Belgium, Italy, and even Canada have imposed full arms embargoes on Israel, aligning with interim measures ordered by the International Court of Justice, which in January 2024 warned of the risk of “plausible genocide” in Gaza. France, Germany, and the UK have resisted, citing technicalities and existing defence commitments, as Financial Times noted.
In the halls of Brussels, this divergence is feeding fractures within the EU’s common foreign policy. While Macron urges unity around European defence, critics argue that France is actually deepening Europe’s moral disunity by playing both sides of the war economy.
Will legal pressure force Macron to confront France’s role in global conflicts?
For now, Macron’s government is tightening export transparency requirements and proposing a new arms oversight body. But activists warn it may be too little, too late. The legal proceedings in Paris are likely to intensify, especially as survivors of the Gaza attacks come forward with claims supported by forensic evidence.
As geopolitical scholar Renaud Girard noted in a recent editorial, “France’s soul is on trial. You cannot claim to uphold liberty and equality while profiting from the tools of destruction.”
Whether Macron chooses reform or deflection, the consequences for French diplomacy, and Europe’s moral leadership, are already unfolding.
