The organizers told IAI, Elbit and Rafael that “security issues and organizational difficulties” were the reasons for the ban.
By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
The Netherlands’ organizers of the country’s largest defense exhibition have banned an Israeli presence this year, in a move that could be linked to the country’s growing anti-Israel stance.
NIDV Exhibition Defense & Security (NEDS), which focuses largely on maritime defense, sent letters to firms that have previously participated in the annual November event, such as Rafael, Israel Aerospace Industries and Elbit.
Sources told Globes that the organizers blamed “security issues and organizational difficulties” for the disinvitation, although last year they had no problem allowing the companies to present battle-proven systems such as the Iron Dome, the Arrow anti-ballistic missile and the Barak missile defense array which is designed to work on ships.
“The situation in Gaza has deteriorated to such an extent that social unrest worldwide, in Europe and in the Netherlands continues to increase. We told them we’re concerned about being able to organize the fair safely if they participate,” Hans Huigen, director of the Dutch Defence and Security Industry (NIDV), told the NOS News outlet.
He said that “It’s not up to [NIDV] to have an opinion” on what is happening in the Israel-Hamas war, “but we do listen and pay attention to what’s going on in society and politics on this issue.”
There were anti-Israel protests last year at the exhibition that led to police arrests, he noted, and he feared that it would be worse this time.
“We already had to massively scale up security in 2024,” Huigen said. “That would only increase this year if Israeli companies had a stand.”
The government has taken an increasingly hostile position against the Jewish state.
The Netherlands had halted its minimal arms exports to Israel several months after the Hamas-led massacre of 1,200 people and the kidnapping of 251, including women and children, in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, sparking the ongoing war.
More recently, Amsterdam has been urging the EU to suspend its trade agreement with Israel, claiming there are “indications” that the IDF is violating international humanitarian law in the Gaza Strip, which would breach the terms of the Association Agreement with Israel’s largest trading partner.
While the Dutch and many European other countries say their current anger at Israel stems from the food shortages in Gaza, Israel has said that the UN has grossly underreported the number of aid trucks entering the territory and released pictures of Gazans preparing food to sell and posing with many bags of basic goods such as sugar.
In one photo, dozens of huge sacks of flour can be seen left on the ground after aid trucks had been pillaged, showing that there is no need for them.
Videos online showing Gazan streets full of food, with one Palestinian TikToker saying outright, “There is no more hunger, the market is full … The only things missing are fruit and meat.”
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