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France has banned Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country, becoming the latest Western nation to take direct action against senior members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition as pressure grows over Israeli settlement policy and violence in the occupied West Bank.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced the move on Tuesday, accusing Smotrich of promoting policies that undermine prospects for a two-state solution. Barrot said the minister “actively promotes the annexation of the West Bank, which he openly claims, the creation of new settlements in the West Bank, the re-colonisation of Gaza, the economic collapse of the Palestinian Authority and its harmful consequences for the Palestinian population.
“This is a policy that the overwhelming majority of the international community, firmly committed to the two-state solution, cannot accept”, Barrot wrote on X.
Barrot also said the ban extends to “four leaders of settler organizations, and twenty-one violent settlers”.
Israel swiftly condemned the decision. Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein described the sanctions as “disgraceful”, saying they represented an attempt to impose a political position on Israel.
“The real essence of these steps is the attempt to impose a political stance regarding the right of Jews to settle in the Land of Israel and concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – camouflaged as measures against violence,” he said.
The move comes just weeks after France barred Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir from entering the country. A number of member states urged the EU to join France, after Gvir posted a video showing detained activists from a Gaza-bound flotilla forced to their knees with their hands tied.
It marks an increasingly confrontational stance towards two of the most prominent far-right figures in the Israeli government.
Coordinated sanctions campaign
France’s action forms part of a wider effort by several Western countries to increase pressure on Israel over settlement expansion and settler violence in the West Bank.
France, Britain, Canada and Norway, have all announced measures targeting individuals and organisations linked to settlement activity and violence against Palestinians.
The coordinated approach reflects growing concern among Western governments that continued settlement expansion is threatening the viability of a future Palestinian state.
In the UK, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told parliament on Tuesday that the government was urging British businesses and citizens not to engage in financial activities connected to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
“We believe that violent settler groups should not be profiting from the land that they have seized from Palestinians,” Cooper said.
The Israeli “government has condemned some settler violence, but that rings hollow when there is scant accountability”, she added.
The latest measures build on sanctions already imposed by Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand against both Smotrich and Ben Gvir last year, when the four countries accused the ministers of inciting violence against Palestinians.
Israel at the time denounced those sanctions as “scandalous”.
The coordinated moves underline a growing willingness amongst some nations to move beyond diplomatic criticism and adopt targeted measures against individuals and groups linked to settlement expansion and violence in the occupied territories.
Additional sources • AFP