France bans Israel's Smotrich from entering its territory

France’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has been banned from entering France as part of coordinated national sanctions linked to violence in the occupied West Bank, News.Az reports, citing Al Jazeera.

France has imposed the measures alongside its allies, the country's foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot said.

“With our British, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, and Norwegian partners, we are today imposing new sanctions against those responsible for intensifying colonisation and violence in the occupied West Bank,” he said in a post on X.

France has barred Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, four leaders of settler organisations, and 21 violent settlers from entering the country, Barrot said.

He added: “Bezalel Smotrich actively promotes the annexation of the West Bank, which he openly claims, the creation of new settlements in the West Bank, the recolonization of Gaza, the economic collapse of the Palestinian Authority, and its deleterious consequences on the Palestinian population: this is a policy that the overwhelming majority of the international community cannot accept, firmly committed to the two-State solution.”

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev