Get you up to speed: France bans Israel’s finance minister, slams him for promoting ‘recolonisation’ of Gaza
France has banned Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country, citing his promotion of West Bank annexation and the “re-colonisation” of Gaza. Additionally, four leaders of settler organisations and twenty-one violent settlers were also prohibited from French territory.
France’s foreign minister announced a ban on Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, citing his promotion of West Bank annexation and the genocide in Gaza. This action aligns with sanctions imposed by several countries, including Britain, Canada, and Ireland, against Smotrich and other Israeli officials due to their role in escalating settlement activity and violence in the West Bank.
France has banned Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country, denouncing his advocacy for West Bank annexation and Gaza re-colonisation. The move, announced by Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, aligns with similar actions from the UK, Ireland, and several other nations, as a coordinated response to increasing violence and settlement expansion in the region.
What remains unclear — It is uncertain how many additional individuals may be targeted by similar sanctions from France and its allied countries.
France bans Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich from entry amid sanctions
France on Tuesday banned Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country, the French foreign minister said, slamming him for actively promoting the annexation of the West Bank and the “re-colonisation” of Gaza.
“Four leaders of settler organisations, and twenty-one violent settlers” were also banned from French territory, Jean-Noël Barrot wrote on X, condemning a “policy that the overwhelming majority of the international community, firmly committed to the two-state solution, cannot accept”.
The minister said the announcement “imposing new sanctions on those responsible for the intensification of settlement-building and violence in the West Bank” was in tandem with Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway.
Smotrich, of the far-right Religious Zionist party, is the second Israeli minister France has banned from its territory in recent months.
Last month, France banned National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir for mocking bound activists seized by Israeli soldiers on a Gaza-bound flotilla carrying aid for the besieged Palestinian territory.
Read moreFrance bans Israeli security minister Ben Gvir from country
Together, Ben Gvir and Smotrich form a cornerstone of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition government.
Ireland also barred the two ministers in recent days.
Britain banned the pair in June last year and other countries followed, including Spain and Slovenia.