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DUBAI: Israeli defense companies have been barred from the upcoming Dubai Airshow after a “technical review,” its organizer said on Tuesday, without providing further details, two years into the devastating Gaza war.
Registrations were withdrawn for all six Israeli defense companies that were due to take part, said Tim Hawes, managing director of Informa Markets, which organizes the show.
“The (Israeli) exhibitors that were previously coming won’t be participating,” said Hawes, on the sidelines of a press conference to announce details of the exhibition.
“There was a technical review which we do of all companies that take part in the show,” he said, adding the decision had been taken by the airshow’s technical committee. Hawes did not elaborate on the reasons for the decision. The next edition of the biennial airshow, one of the world’s biggest, takes place in November.
Israel’s inaugural participation in 2023 was overshadowed by the start of the Gaza war. Israeli defense exhibitions were empty and unstaffed at the start of the show.
The United Arab Emirates is among a handful of Arab nations with ties to Israel.
It established normal diplomatic relations with Israel under the Abraham Accords in 2020.
Since then, the Gaza war has dramatically worsened Israel’s standing with its Arab neighbors.
Tuesday marks the two-year anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas that triggered the war, which has left tens of thousands dead and much of Gaza in ruins.

JERUSALEM: One child was sitting on her mother’s lap. Another had just stepped outside his home. Another was picking almonds.

The United Nations reports that at least 18 children under the age of 15 have been killed by Israeli gunfire in the occupied West Bank this year, marking the third consecutive year child fatalities in the territory have reached the double digits.
Some died during Israeli military raids; others were shot while walking in their neighborhoods, playing outside or staying inside their homes. More than 300 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since January.

Among the children killed were Layla, 2, shot in Jenin while perched on her mother’s lap; Saddam, 10, killed while holding his father’s phone in Tulkarem; Amer, 14, a US citizen from New Jersey whose father said he was shot while picking almonds; Ayman, 12, killed outside his grandfather’s home in Hebron; Rimas, 13, shot in the Jenin refugee camp while playing outside; Ahmad, 14, killed in Sebastia under unclear circumstances; and Mahmoud, 14, one of five people killed in a Jenin missile strike that spared only his father.
Parents cling to the belongings their children left behind — savings books, toys and photographs. They inhale the scent of clothes once worn. Young boys and girls proudly show pendants emblazoned with their dead sibling’s face.
Abandoned bikes, silent courtyards and empty bedrooms remain, reminders of absence. Israeli authorities said their operations target militants and that soldiers are prohibited from firing at civilians, especially minors.
But the circumstances of the children’s deaths call those claims into question. The military says investigations into some of the cases are ongoing, but families report receiving no information about what happened to their children and demand accountability.
Each case is documented with names, ages, locations and circumstances, underscoring both the personal loss and the scale of child casualties in the conflict.