International Disalignment: Chile Stands Apart While Europe Closes Doors

IAI’s presence at FIDAE 2026 places Chile in stark disalignment from the recent practices of Western democracies. Since 2023, countries such as France (Eurosatory 2024), Spain (FEINDEF 2025), the Netherlands (NEDS 2025), and the United Kingdom (DSEI 2025) have restricted or outright excluded Israeli companies from their major defense exhibitions. Beyond exhibitions, nations like Germany, Italy, Canada, and Belgium have halted new arms exports to Israel or blocked critical components (like the Netherlands with F-35 parts) due to legitimate concerns that they might be used in Gaza in violation of International Humanitarian Law. “Companies that send weapons, parts, components, or ammunition to Israel risk being complicit in serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law,” warned United Nations experts in June 2024. In this context, the Chilean decision not only ignores these warnings but also projects an image of normative exceptionality that undermines the country’s credibility in multilateral forums.

IAI Under UN Scrutiny: Profitable Genocide and Testing Grounds in Gaza

The focus on IAI does not derive from non-governmental organizations, but from an official United Nations document from 2025. The Special Rapporteur’s report explicitly identifies IAI among the corporate entities sustaining the “economy of occupation, apartheid, and genocide.” The text states emphatically that for Israeli companies like IAI and Elbit Systems, the “ongoing genocide” has proven to be a lucrative business, linking the increase in Israeli military spending between 2023 and 2024 to a sharp rise in their profits. Additionally, the report details that the ubiquitous drones in Gaza have been “largely developed and supplied” by these companies, performing intelligence and surveillance tasks. Thus, IAI is not just a secondary supplier; it is a central component of the war machine operating in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, whose continued presence has been declared unlawful by the ICJ.

The Legal Framework That Cannot Be Ignored: Complicity and Duty of Non-Assistance

The discussion regarding IAI’s participation in FIDAE 2026 transcends political or reputational dimensions; it activates concrete legal obligations for third States. The ICJ’s Advisory Opinion from July 19, 2024, concluded that all States are obligated to not provide assistance or support to maintain the unlawful situation stemming from Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. By allowing a state-owned Israeli company—whose products are used in that occupation—to promote its military capabilities in Chilean territory with government approval, an act of institutional facilitation arises that directly clashes with this duty of non-assistance. As documented by Amnesty International in its briefing “Pull the Plug on the Political Economy Enabling Israel’s Crimes” (September 2025), “States, public institutions, and companies must cease contributing to the unlawful occupation, apartheid, and genocide in Gaza.” Promoting IAI at FIDAE, therefore, amounts to a contribution to normalizing an industry that makes these crimes possible.

Real Legal Risks: From Hypothetical to Concrete Exposure for Chilean Authorities

What was once a hypothetical risk has now become a concrete scenario. The international legal context has shifted radically: there are provisional measures from the ICJ in the case against Israel for genocide, arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court against high-ranking Israeli authorities (with Netanyahu wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity), and a growing activation of the principle of universal jurisdiction in European courts.

In this scenario, the Chilean authorities who promoted, supported, or executed the decision to include IAI—including the President, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense, the Chief of the Air Force, and the President of FIDAE—face a level of personal exposure that could lead to precautionary measures, strategic litigation, or regulatory scrutiny in foreign jurisdictions. This is not an imminent threat but rather an avoidable legal vulnerability that the Chilean state has decided to assume without apparent justification.

Strategic Coherence: The Contradiction with Russia’s Exclusion Erodes Foreign Policy

Perhaps the most glaring weakness of this decision is its internal contradiction. Chile maintains the exclusion of Russia from FIDAE—a measure adopted in 2022 and sustained to this day—on the grounds of not facilitating the promotion of military industries linked to violations of international law. However, it allows IAI’s participation in a context also marked by severe international scrutiny, including a UN statement describing “ongoing genocide.”

If the criterion is that Chile should not be a platform for military promotion associated with serious violations, its selective application undermines the credibility of the State, exposes the country to valid accusations of double standards, and erodes the coherence of foreign policy. For a middle power like Chile, which cannot impose its will by force, consistency in respecting international law is not a discursive luxury: it is a strategic necessity to preserve its room for maneuver in the international system.

A Foreign Policy Signal with Effects Beyond the Exhibition

The decision to permit Israel Aerospace Industries to participate in FIDAE 2026 is neither a technical nor a neutral choice. It sends a clear signal regarding foreign policy that entails: a break from the established Chilean standards of 2022 and 2024; a disalignment with the practices of Western democracies that have restricted Israel; exposure to concrete legal, political, and reputational risks; and a direct impact on the coherence of Chilean foreign policy by maintaining the exclusion of Russia while allowing IAI’s participation.

In an increasingly tense international context, where adherence to international law remains an essential tool for countries that are not military powers, consistency is not a luxury; it is a strategic necessity. The Kast administration still has the opportunity to reconsider a decision that, if upheld, will leave Chile in a position of unjustified exceptionalism and legal vulnerability.

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