France bans Israel’s finance minister, slams him for promoting ‘recolonisation’ of Gaza

France bans Israel’s finance minister, slams him for promoting ‘recolonisation’ of Gaza France on Tuesday banned Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from entry, slamming the far-right politician’s calls for the annexation of the occupied West Bank, new settlements in the area and the “recolonisation” of Gaza. Smotrich was among dozens of Israelis who were slapped with sanctions by France, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway. France on Tuesday banned Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country, the French foreign minister said, slamming him for actively promoting the annexation of the West Bank and the “re-colonisation” of Gaza. “Four leaders of settler organisations, and twenty-one violent settlers” were also banned from French territory, Jean-Noël Barrot wrote on X, condemning a “policy that the overwhelming majority of the international community, firmly committed to the two-state solution, cannot accept”. The minister said the announcement “imposing new sanctions on those responsible for the intensification of settlement-building and violence in the West Bank” was in tandem with Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway. Smotrich, of the far-right Religious Zionist party, is the second Israeli minister France has banned from its territory in recent months. Last month, France banned National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir for mocking bound activists seized by Israeli soldiers on a Gaza-bound flotilla carrying aid for the besieged Palestinian territory. Read moreFrance bans Israeli security minister Ben Gvir from country Together, Ben Gvir and Smotrich form a cornerstone of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition government. Ireland also barred the two ministers in recent days. Britain banned the pair in June last year and other countries followed, including Spain and Slovenia. (FRANCE 24 with AFP)