France bans Israeli security minister Ben Gvir from country

PARIS

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir takes part in a Cabinet meeting at the Kirya, which houses the Israeli Ministry of Defense, in Tel Aviv on Dec. 31, 2023.

France announced on Saturday it had banned Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir from the country after he posted a video mocking bound activists seized by Israeli soldiers on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.

"From today, Itamar Ben Gvir is banned from entering French territory" after "his reprehensible actions towards French and European citizens" who were part of the flotilla, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on X.

He added that, with Italy, he was also calling for European Union-level sanctions against the far-right Ben Gvir.