France bars Israeli minister and four settlement leaders
Shafaq News- Paris
France has barred Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced on Tuesday, citing his support for the annexation of the occupied West Bank and calls to re-establish Israeli settlements in Gaza.
Paris also imposed entry bans on four leaders of settlement organizations and 21 settlers accused of involvement in violence in the West Bank, Barrot stated, condemning “policies rejected by the overwhelming majority of the international community, which remains committed to the two-state solution.”
Barrot said the measures, which target individuals linked to the expansion of settlements and violence in the West Bank, align with similar actions taken by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Norway.
Avec nos partenaires britannique, canadien, australien, néo-zélandais et norvégien, nous prenons aujourd’hui de nouvelles sanctions contre les responsables de l’intensification de la colonisation et des violences en Cisjordanie.A titre national, nous avons interdit d’accès à… pic.twitter.com/VwGy3l7l00
— Jean-Noël Barrot (@jnbarrot) June 9, 2026
Last month, France barred National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir from entering its territory after he published footage showing detained activists from the "Sumud Flotilla" kneeling with their hands bound following their interception at sea and subsequent detention in southern Israel.
Ben-Gvir and Smotrich are key figures in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition government.
Ireland has also recently imposed entry bans on the two ministers, while the United Kingdom barred them from entering the country in June last year. Spain and Slovenia later adopted similar measures.
