IMAGE: French dockworkers refuse to load a cargo ship of machine gun parts bound for Israel. They refuse to participate in the “Gaza Genocide” (Source:© VALLAURI NICOLAS / MAXPPP)
Dockworkers at the Marseille-Fos port in France are declining to load military supplies that were scheduled to depart for Israel this Thursday, as announced by the CGT union, which expressed its unwillingness to “take part in the ongoing genocide perpetrated by the Israeli government.” Yesterday, the CGT dockers’ union at the Gulf of Fos issued a press release confirming information from various sources about ’19 pallets of Eurolinks links‘ being shipped from Marseille-Fos to Haifa, Israel. They asserted that these parts are used by the Israeli military to continue the massacre of the Palestinian people,’ leading them to refuse loading the container onto a Liberian-flagged cargo ship which arrived today at the Fos port in Marseille this Thursday.
PRESS RELEASE: (translated into English) General CGT Union of Dockworkers and Port Handling personnel from the Gulf of Fos (Source: The Ditch)
Investigative media outlets Disclose and The Ditch reported that the Contship Era was set to transport fourteen tons of spare parts for submachine guns during its layover. This military equipment is allegedly for Israel Military Industries (IMI Systems), which was acquired by Israeli defense firm, Elbit Systems, in November 2018, and produced by the French firm Eurolinks in Marseille. These components, known as links, are locally produced to connect bullets for automatic weapons. Israel Military Industries (IMI), a subsidiary of Elbit Systems, is a leading arms manufacturer in Israel, claiming to be the exclusive supplier to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) for both small- and large-calibre ammunition. According to investigative reports, this is the third shipment from Fos-sur-Mer to Haifa in 2025. The first shipment on April 3 involved nearly twenty tons of goods for the Israeli company, as per confidential maritime records. The second shipment reportedly took place on May 22, carrying two million links: one million ‘M9’ links for heavy weaponry and one million ‘M27’ links. On October 5, Emmanuel Macron urged a cessation of arms shipments to Israel that are currently being utilised in the ongoing genocide in Gaza. He stated:
France is “in solidarity with Israel’s security,” but added, “we are also striving for consistency. We cannot advocate for a ceasefire while simultaneously supplying weapons of war.”
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, France has not exported arms to Israel since 1998, Nevertheless, France has persisted in providing Israel with components that are employed in its domestic arms manufacturing… a matter that causes embarrassment for the Ministry of the Armed Forces amid the escalating violence in Gaza. In March 2024, Disclose and Marsactu uncovered contracts between Eurolinks and Israel Military Industries. Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, confirmed these hidden contracts. Earlier today, the French Ministry of the Armed Forces, which was certainly feeling the mounting pressure, addressed Disclose’s investigative report on French public radio network “France Inter”, conveying an evasive message without making any reference to this unexpected cargo.
“The license issued to Eurolinks stipulates that the final product is to be re-exported to France.”
French NGO Disclose has the story…
IMAGE: The eastern docks of the port of Marseille Fos (Source: GPMM)
Ariane Lavrilleux, with the help of The Ditch report for the French NGO Disclose…
France to deliver machine gun equipment to Israel
An Israeli cargo ship will dock on Thursday, June 5, in Fos-sur-Mer, near Marseille. The Contship Era is scheduled to secretly load 14 tons of spare parts for submachine guns the same day. Manufactured by the French company Eurolinks, this military equipment is to be delivered to the arms company Israel Military Industries, according to Disclose and the Irish media outlet The Ditch.
Deliveries of French military equipment to Israel continue in secret. According to information from Disclose and the Irish media outlet The Ditch, a cargo ship belonging to the Israeli company Zim is preparing to stop in Fos-sur-Mer (Bouches-du-Rhône) to load 19 pallets containing 14 tons of parts for machine gun cartridges.. The arrival of the Contship Era was scheduled with an ETA on Thursday, June 5th, at 6 a.m., and departure the same day, around 11 p.m, heading for the Italian cities of Genoa and Salerno. Its final destination: the port of Haifa, in northern Israel.
These spare parts, called links, are manufactured in Marseille by the French company Eurolinks. They are used to connect automatic weapon bullets, and were ordered by Israel Military Industries (IMI), a subsidiary of Elbit Systems, one of Israel’s leading arms manufacturers. The company, which presents itself as “the exclusive supplier of the Israeli Defence Forces,” supplies the IDF with small and large calibre bullets.
According to our investigation, this is the third expedition between Fos-sur-Mer and Haifa since the beginning of 2025. And this, despite calls from UN experts to stop arms deliveries to Israel because of the risk of genocide against Palestinians, in a conflict that has left more than 50,000 dead, including 15,000 children according to UNICEF. The first delivery took place on April 3—the cargo ship Contship Era picked up 26 pallets, or nearly 20 tons of goods, destined for IMI, according to confidential maritime data obtained by Disclose and The Ditch. The second shipment took place on May 22. This time, the cargo ship was carrying two million links: one million M9s, used to equip heavy weapons, and the other half made up of M27 links. The latter, intended for light automatic rifles, would be compatible with the Negev 5, a machine gun used in Gaza by the Israeli army during the “flour massacre” on February 29, 2024, where more than a hundred Palestinian civilians were killed near a humanitarian aid convoy. Contacted numerous times by Disclose, Eurolinks CEO Jean-Luc Bonelli did not respond.
The CGT union of dockers in Fos-sur-Mer has announced in a press release, a few hours after the publication of this investigation, that “the container filled with Eurolinks links was set aside” and that they would not “load it onto the ship bound for Haifa.” The text emphasises that “the dockers and port workers of the Gulf of Fos will not participate in the ongoing genocide orchestrated by the Israeli government.”
IMAGE: Left: A photo submitted to Disclose in spring 2024 of an M27 link manufactured by Eurolinks and delivered to Israel. Right: (Source: Eurolinks)
The contracts between the Israeli IMI and Eurolinks are not new. In October 2023, with government authorisation, the French company exported 100,000 links produced in its Marseille factory to Israel, as Disclose and Marsactu revealed in March 2024. The day after our revelations, the Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, assured in a press conference that these deliveries were intended for “re-export” to customers in Israel. This statement is identical to the one made at the time by Jean-Luc Bonelli to Disclose: “The licenses granted to us by the [French] authorities force IMI to use our links only for cartridges intended for their foreign customers.” But, by the manufacturer’s own admission, no checks were carried out by the French embassy in Tel Aviv to verify the identity of the final recipient.
Eight months after this episode, the French Minister of the Armed Forces changed his story during a hearing before senators. He now maintained that the Eurolinks links were “assembled in Israel” before… returning to France. “So,” concluded Minister Sébastien Lecornu, “no weapons were sold to Israel.” What explanation does he provide today? When contacted by Disclose, the Ministry of the Armed Forces did not respond before the publication of this article.
The Investigation continues: Update from Ariane Lavrilleux and Nicolas Serve for French NGO Disclose…
Fos-sur-Mer: gun barrels must also be shipped to Israel
Another shipment is due to board the cargo ship destined to deliver French weapons to Israel this Thursday, June 5. According to new information from Disclose and The Ditch, these are spare parts produced by the company Aubert et Duval, used to equip cannons. Dockers in Fos-sur-Mer near Marseille have reportedly identified and isolated the packages, as they did yesterday, a few hours after our revelations about the existence of a shipment of 14 tons of Eurolinks planned for the same day.
As the Contship Era docked in Fos-sur-Mer on Thursday, June 5, where it was supposed to load machine gun parts for Israel, Disclose and The Ditch discovered that another cargo was to be secretly loaded. It involved equipment for guns manufactured by the French company Aubert et Duval. Like the Eurolinks ammunition links, they were purchased by the weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems, according to confidential maritime data.
Specialising in the arms industry, Aubert et Duval produces steel parts used for small and large-calibre weapons. The goods stored at the Fos-sur-Mer docks contain five packages filled with gun barrels, although it is not yet possible to specify their model or the type of weapons they are used for. According to our information, the dockers were able to identify this new shipment and immobilised it, as they did the day before, following our revelations about the Eurolinks cargo. Contacted by Disclose, the Aubert et Duval communications department did not respond to our calls.
See more reports from Disclose
READ MORE EU NEWS AT: 21st CENTURY WIRE EU FILES
SUPPORT OUR INDEPENDENT MEDIA PLATFORM – BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV
VISIT OUR TELEGRAM CHANNEL
