The measure was enacted as several countries move to issue new sanctions against Israel over settler activity in the West Bank.
PARIS — France on Tuesday banned Israel’s far-right Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, from entering the country due to his support for the West Bank annexations that threaten a two-state solution.
France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot confirmed the ban in a post on X, adding Smotrich “actively promotes the annexation of the West Bank,” as well as “the creation of new colonies in the West Bank, the recolonization of Gaza.”
“It’s a policy that an overwhelming majority of the international community, firmly attached to the two-state solution, cannot accept,” said Barrot.
The ban came as France and Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom — all of which have now banned Smotrich from entering their respective territories — issued a joint statement announcing they would take action to target “violent settlers.”
At the same time that France imposed entry bans on Smotrich, four leaders of settler organizations and 21 additional individuals, the U.K. announced it would sanction six entities and one individual involved in “financing, enabling and carrying out settler violence.”
“For too long, violent settlers have been able to act with near impunity, and settlement expansion and creation of outposts continue with the support and facilitation of the Government of Israel,” the joint statement read.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry slammed the moves in a post on X, labelling them “disgraceful measures” and “anti-Israeli policies” that “only serve to fuel antisemitism.”
The sanctions come at a low point in relations between Europe and Israel. Many of the country’s historic European allies have become increasingly critical of the increased pace of West Bank annexations and the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Even German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who are among Israel’s staunchest supporters, have taken notably tougher stances in recent months.
France, meanwhile, has been one of Israel’s most vocal detractors. Last month Paris banned the far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir from entering France after he was filmed mocking activists seized by soldiers on a Gaza-bound aid ship.