Full story
Ireland bars two ministers
Ireland has barred Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from visiting the country, with Prime Minister Micheal Martin confirming the move on Friday.
“Ireland has barred Israel’s National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, from visiting the country, citing their conduct towards pro-Palestinian activists and support for policies that would displace Palestinians from their homeland”
Martin said the two far-right ministers had advocated positions that amounted to “a desire to see the elimination of Palestinians from Palestine,” and he linked the decision to their conduct toward pro-Palestinian activists connected to a Gaza-bound aid flotilla last month.
Ireland’s justice ministry said Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan instructed immigration officers to refuse entry to Ben-Gvir and Smotrich should they seek to enter the state.
The BBC reported that the travel bans are being introduced by Jim O’Callaghan and confirmed by the Taoiseach Micheál Martin, and it said the US, the UK, France, Italy and Canada expressed outrage.
The BBC also said the move marked the first time Israeli ministers had been sanctioned by Western governments.
Condemnation and EU sanctions
At the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Montenegro, Martin said the ministers’ actions and words “amount to a desire to see the elimination of Palestinians from Palestine,” and he argued that further EU measures should be introduced against them.
Martin told Irish broadcaster RTÉ that “In my view, their behaviour justifies sanctions at EU level as well,” while the BBC reported that France, Spain and Italy called on the EU to sanction Ben-Gvir.
The BBC said Ben-Gvir’s actions drew criticism from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said they were “not in line with Israel's values”.
The Times of Israel reported that Ireland’s justice ministry statement sent to AFP said Jim O’Callaghan “has instructed immigration officers to refuse entry to Itamar Ben Gvir — Minister for National Security of Israel, and Bezalel Smotrich, Minister of Finance of Israel — should they seek to enter the state,” and it tied the ban to Ben Gvir’s conduct toward Gaza flotilla activists.
The Times of Israel also said organizers claimed several deported flotilla activists were hospitalized with injuries from Israeli custody and that at least 15 reported sexual assaults, including rape.
Gaza war backdrop and fallout
The bans come as Israel carried out another air strike in Gaza despite a US-brokered ceasefire deal that took effect last October, and the BBC said the Israeli military said the strikes killed four senior members of Hamas's General Security Apparatus.
The BBC reported that the Gaza war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, when about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage, and it said Israel responded with a military campaign in Gaza in which more than 72,950 people have been killed, according to the territory's health ministry.
In Ireland’s framing, the decision referenced the treatment of pro-Palestinian activists who were part of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla last month, and Al Jazeera said Ben-Gvir provoked condemnation when he shared video mocking detained activists as they knelt blindfolded with their hands bound.
The Times of Israel reported that Israeli forces arrested 430 people on board 50 ships in international waters last month to halt a flotilla of activists trying to break the blockade on Hamas-ruled Gaza, and it said Ben-Gvir released a video the next day taunting the activists.
The National reported that Ireland imposed the entry ban citing the ministers’ roles in unrest in Gaza, and it said both officials are already sanctioned by the UK for “inciting violence against Palestinian people.”
