France bans Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from entry

On 9 June 2026 French Foreign Minister Jean‑Noël Barrot announced that Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich is prohibited from entering France. The ban also applies to four leaders of settler organisations and twenty‑one settlers accused of violence in the West Bank. France acted in coordination with the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway as part of a broader sanctions package targeting individuals deemed responsible for intensifying settlement expansion and settler‑related violence.

Barrot said Smotrich “actively promotes the annexation of the West Bank, the creation of new settlements, the re‑colonisation of Gaza and the economic collapse of the Palestinian Authority,” adding that “this is a policy that the overwhelming majority of the international community, firmly committed to the two‑state solution, cannot accept.” Israel’s foreign ministry condemned the measures as politically motivated and anti‑Israel. Smotrich is the second Israeli cabinet minister barred by France in recent months after the May ban on National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. Similar entry bans have also been imposed by Ireland, Britain, Spain and Slovenia.