Government-to-government (G2G) sales made up more than half of exports in 2025, amounting to around $10 billion. Over half of the total exports, 53%, were in deals worth over $100 million, the ministry said.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n Despite some governments, especially in Western Europe, canceling weapon deals with Israel<\/a> or sanctioning Israeli defense firms<\/a> \u2014 including barring<\/a> them from<\/a> defense expos<\/a> \u2014 over the war in the Gaza Strip, ministry officials said they were still seeing a high demand for Israeli weapons from Europe.<\/p>\n On Monday, the Defense Ministry said France had barred Israel from participating in the Eurosatory defense exhibition in Paris, preventing the ministry from establishing a national pavilion or sending government representatives to one of the world\u2019s leading forums for arms sales.<\/p>\n The move followed similar bans on Israeli companies displaying offensive arms at French defense shows in recent years.<\/p>\n Officials also expressed concerns that Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine had boosted competition for Israel\u2019s arms industry, providing another real-life proving ground for weapons systems, and said the strength of the shekel had also hampered exports.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, the ministry said that the \u201cunprecedented operational achievements\u201d during the multi-front war of recent years, including during the two major rounds of conflict with Iran, \u201ccreated strong demand for Israeli technology, and indeed 2025 continued the upward trend in defense exports and crossed the $19 billion threshold for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n It touted the sales as a key contributor to Israel\u2019s defense budget and international leverage.<\/p>\n \u201cThe sharp increase in Israeli defense exports, particularly the record figure in G2G deals, reflects in practice the implementation of the Defense Ministry\u2019s strategy to expand Israeli defense exports as a tool to ensure the IDF\u2019s force buildup in an era of challenging budgets, to influence foreign policy, strengthen the defense industry and create additional budgetary sources for the defense budget,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n \t Europe was the largest purchaser of Israeli defense goods, buying 36% of the total exports in 2025, or $6.9 billion. This is down from around $7.9 billion worth of exports to Europe in 2024, which made up 54% of exports that year, a spike attributed to the $4.6 billion sale<\/a> of the Arrow 3 long-range missile defense system to Germany. In 2023, Europe made up 35% of sales.<\/p>\n The Asia-Pacific region followed with 32% of the exports, up from 23% in 2024.<\/p>\n Middle Eastern and North African nations \u2014 including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco, which normalized relations with Israel in 2020 agreements known as the Abraham Accords \u2014 accounted for 15% of the arms purchases, up from 12% in 2024.<\/p>\n Ministry officials said they estimated that after the war with Iran ends, Israeli arms exports to Gulf nations would increase further. During the recent conflict, Israel sent an Iron Dome air defense system and personnel to the UAE<\/a>, which shot down Iranian missiles targeting the country.<\/p>\n North America accounted for 13%, Latin America for 2%, and sub-Saharan Africa for 2%. These figures have stayed relatively stable in recent years.<\/p>\n \t Ministry officials said they were concerned that Israel was no longer one of the only suppliers of \u201ccombat-proven\u201d weapons, as many foreign systems have undergone significant use during the fighting in Ukraine. Many European nations have also ramped up production of weapons for export, making competition more difficult for Israel, the officials said.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/AFP__20250616__62HY77W__v1__HighRes__FranceIsraelPoliticsConflictDefenceTransportAvi-640x400.jpg\"){kind=spacer}
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\n\t\tAn attendee walks past the closed Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Israeli Pavilion during the 55th edition of the International Paris Air Show at the Paris Le Bourget Airport, on June 16, 2025. (ALAIN JOCARD \/ AFP)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Spyder-SR-Firing-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tA SPYDER surface-to-air missile is fired in a test in an undated photograph. (Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd.)<\/p>\n
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