PARIS: France on Tuesday barred Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country for promoting the annexation of the occupied West Bank and calling for the “re-colonization” of Gaza.
“With our British, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, and Norwegian partners, we are today imposing new sanctions against those responsible for intensifying colonisation and violence in the occupied West Bank,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on X.
“Bezalel Smotrich actively promotes the annexation of the West Bank, which he openly claims, the creation of new settlements in the West Bank, the recolonisation of Gaza, the economic collapse of the Palestinian Authority, and its deleterious consequences on the Palestinian population: This is a policy that the overwhelming majority of the international community cannot accept, firmly committed to the two-state solution,” he said.
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
A leading figure in Israel’s far-right Religious Zionist party, Smotrich is the second Israeli minister to be barred from entering France in recent months.
In May, France imposed a similar ban on National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir after he mocked pro-Palestinian activists detained by Israeli forces aboard an aid flotilla attempting to reach Gaza.
Ben Gvir and Smotrich are key allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and play a central role in sustaining his right-wing governing coalition.
France is not alone in taking action against the two ministers. Ireland recently announced entry bans on both officials, while Britain imposed sanctions on them in June last year. Other European countries, including Spain and Slovenia, have since adopted similar measures.
