France on Tuesday banned Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country over his support for 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 that 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 is a policy that the vast majority of the international community, strongly committed to the two-state solution, cannot accept,” Barrot said.
The ban came after France and Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom, 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 other individuals, the United Kingdom announced that it would sanction six entities and one individual involved in “financing, enabling and perpetrating settler violence.”
“For too long, violent settlers have been able to operate with near impunity, and settlement expansion and the creation of outposts continue with the support and facilitation of the Government of Israel,” the joint statement said.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry harshly criticized these moves in a post on X, labeling them as “shameful measures” and “anti-Israeli policies” that “only serve to fuel anti-Semitism.”
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 accelerating pace of annexations of the West Bank and the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Even German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who are among Israel’s staunchest supporters, have taken significantly tougher stances in recent months.
Meanwhile, France has been one of Israel’s most vocal critics. Last month, Paris banned Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir from entering France after he was filmed mocking activists captured by soldiers on an aid ship bound for Gaza..