Dubai Airshow nixes Israel attendance over bombing in Qatar

Jerusalem and London – the participation of the Israeli government and managers of the defense industry during the Dubai air program in November to the United Arab Emirates became questioned after the event organizers prohibited them from the show, Israeli defense industry officials confirmed to the DSEI Expo in London on Wednesday.

According to Israeli companies, the official reason given was linked to security problems.

The organizers’ decision became public one day after Israel made an air strike targeting Hamas negotiators on Tuesday during an attack in Doha.

The Dubai Airshow is one of the largest aerospace exhibitions in the Middle East which take place every two years.

Israeli defense companies have opened the possibility of attending the event in the hope that the situation will change in the coming weeks.

The Qatari officers present at the DSEI show told Defense News that they were “very angry” after the news of the attack of Israel against the capital of their country and that it was “overwhelming” to think that Israeli weapons were on the ground near them during the exhibition.

Since the standardization of links in 2020, water and Israel have deepened their defense cooperation in several areas. The following year was marked by several major defense projects signed between the two nations.

Elbit Systems opened its first water office; Crown corporation IAI and Emirati Defense Conglomerate Edge Group signed a contract to develop together an unmanned surface ship; And Rafael formed a joint venture with the G42 group based in 2021 to develop artificial intelligence technologies and large data.

In 2024, IAI and Edge Group also signed an agreement to establish an water center to maintain and market the advanced electro-optical tables of the Israeli company.