ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – A record 34 Israeli companies exhibited at IDEX this week, the Middle East’s largest defense expo hosted biennially by Abu Dhabi.
After fifteen months of a devastating war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and amid a fragile and long-awaited ceasefire between the two bitter enemies, reception for the Jewish state’s arms manufacturers at the event was overwhelmingly positive, according to executives of the companies at the expo.
“We felt very welcome and we felt at home here,” Boaz Levy, CEO of Israel Aerospace Industries, Israel’s major state-owned aerospace and aviation manufacturer, told CNBC during the event.
“The hospitality, the visits of all our customers and the administration here was really good, and it is like any other show in the world.”
The show of force from the Israeli firms, which ranged from major aerospace and heavy weapons manufacturers to smaller startups focused on communications and surveillance technology, was met with visible enthusiasm from conference attendees.
Large groups of people milled around displays of Israeli drones and other battlefield tech, speaking with company representatives at the bustling pavilion and asking questions about the hardware. Emiratis and Saudis dressed in local garb and UAE military personnel in uniform could also be seen speaking and warmly shaking hands with their Israeli counterparts.
The scene, which played out over the five days of the conference, was a stark contrast from the last major aerospace exhibition in the UAE that featured Israeli defense companies. The biennial Dubai Airshow in November 2023 was held just one month after the Israel-Hamas war began.
During the 2023 airshow, only three Israeli defense firms were present – IAI, Elbit Systems, and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems – and the country’s pavilion stood largely empty, with representatives unwilling to speak to CNBC or other members of the press.
