Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
France has banned far-right Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir from entering its territory, calling his behavior “unbelievable”. about insulting Gaza flotilla activists arrested by Israeli police.
“As of today, Itamar Ben-Gvir has been banned from entering French territory. This decision follows his unspeakable actions against French and European citizens who were on board the Global Sumud Flotilla,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot announced in a post on X Saturday.
Recommended Articles
list of things 3end of series
“We cannot allow French citizens to be threatened, threatened or abused in this way – especially by a public official,” Barrot said, calling on the European Union to re-accredit Ben-Gvir.
Ben-Gvir had written movie on social media he showed himself cheering when the flotilla’s freedom fighters kneeled down, blindfolded, with their hands tied, at the port of Ashdod.
Organizers of the Global Sumud Flotilla said in a statement to the Telegraph on Friday that the activists had reported at least. 15 cases of rape when he was in prison in Israel.
Ben-Gvir is an open admirer of Baruch Goldstein, the Israeli who killed 29 Palestinians while praying in Hebron in 1994. He has been tried several times by Israeli courts for “inciting discrimination”.
Poland has also banned Ben-Gvir, announcing a five-year ban on Thursday. “In a democratic country we don’t torture and enjoy people in prison,” Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski wrote.
The French ban comes weeks after the European Union imposed sanctions on Israeli settlers and pro-occupation groups.
Ben-Gvir is one of several Israeli leaders and organizations that have been temporarily or permanently banned by the West, or recognized by international law since Israel’s massacre in Gaza in October 2023.
Here is a list of Israeli figures and organizations that have been banned, sanctioned or sanctioned in recent years:
Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants in November 2024 for Israel’s Prime Minister and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for their actions in Israel’s war in Gaza.
There are “reasonable grounds” to believe that Gallant and Netanyahu “deliberately and intentionally deprived the civilians of Gaza of the things they need to survive, including food, water, medicine and drugs, as well as oil and electricity”, it said.
Instead, the accused are now international wanted persons and ICC member states are responsible for arresting them.
A few days after the Israeli attack led by Hamas on October 7, 2023, Gallant announced a “total siege” of Gaza, saying that “we are fighting human animals”.
More than 72,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza. Israeli officials admitted that this was more accurate in January, after questioning its reliability for two years.
Genocide experts around the world have described Israel’s war in Gaza as genocide.
Bezalel Smotrich
The right-wing Finance Minister, along with Ben-Gvir, was banned from entering Slovenia last July.
The Slovenian government accused the pair of causing “horrendous violence and serious violations of the rights of the Palestinian people” with their “murderous claims”.
Last June, Britain, Norway, Australia, New Zealand and Canada imposed sanctions on two Israeli ministers, accusing them of inciting violence against the Palestinian people.
Smotrich, who lives in the populated West Bank, has supported the expansion of the settlement and has called for the region to be annexed.
The settlement is illegal under international law. In July 2024, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territories was illegal, a ruling Israel ignored.
Smotrich has called for the “total destruction” of Gaza, and said that a Palestinian town in the West Bank must be “destroyed”.
Israeli settlers and settler groups
Earlier this month, the European Union agreed to impose sanctions Israeli settlers and the leaders of Hamas.
The sanctions target three Israeli residents and four Israeli-based entities but their identities have not been made public.
“It was time to move from crisis to productivity,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a televised post following the deal. “Extremism and violence have consequences.”
Apart from East Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank, among three million Palestinians.
In 2025, Israel’s settlement growth reached its highest level since 2017, when the United Nations began tracking data.
Since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza, the West Bank has experienced almost daily violence involving Israeli soldiers and residents. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the area, according to the UN. About 40,000 have fled their homes due to settler violence and Israeli violations.
In 2024, former US President Joe Biden issued sanctions against 30 Israeli settlers and groups, including the powerful settlement development organization, Amana.
Under the sanctions, individuals and organizations were prohibited from accessing all US goods, assets, and the US financial system.
However, a few months later, following the election of US President Donald Trump, the sanctions were lifted after he signed an executive order in January 2025.
