France prevents the Israeli Finance Minister from entering its territory

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot announced on Tuesday that Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who “actively promotes the annexation of the occupied West Bank” and calls for the “resettlement of Gaza”, has been prevented from entering French territory.

The French minister added in a post on the “X” platform that “four leaders of settlement organizations and 21 violent settlers” were also prevented from entering the country, denouncing “a policy that cannot be accepted by the overwhelming majority of the international community, which is firmly committed to the two-state solution.”

He said that the announcement, which “imposes new sanctions on those responsible for intensifying settlement construction and violence in the West Bank,” is consistent with similar steps taken by Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway.

Smotrich is the second Israeli minister whom France has banned from entering its territory in recent months.

Last month, France prevented National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir from entering its territory after he published a video recording showing abuse of detained activists from the “Resilience Flotilla” after they were intercepted at sea and placed in detention in southern Israel.

Ireland also banned the entry of the two ministers recently. Britain also banned them from entering in June last year, before countries including Spain and Slovenia followed suit.