France bans Israel's Ben-Gvir from entry after 'reprehensible' actions towards Gaza activists

FRANCE HAS ANNOUNCED it has banned Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir from entering the country after a video showed him mocking bound activists who had been detained by Israeli forces 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 humanitarian 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 Israeli minister.

The ban follows a global outcry after Ben-Gvir published a video on Wednesday showing the treatment of the activists from the flotilla in Israeli custody.

They were illegally detained in international waters by Israeli naval forces.

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In the video, dozens of activists are seen forced to kneel with their foreheads to the ground and their hands tied with the Israeli national anthem playing in the background. 

The clip, which was captioned “Welcome to Israel”, showed Ben-Gvir heckling the activists while waving an Israeli flag.

Following international condemnation of the clip, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Ben-Gvir’s treatment of the activists was “not in line with Israel’s values and norms”, but he kept the security minister in his post.

Netanyahu had earlier denounced the humanitarian mission, which sought to breach the blockade to Gaza and bring aid to the enclave, as a “malicious scheme” intended to support Hamas, 

A number of Irish citizens who had been detained by Israel arrived home on Saturday.

‘Intimidated, brutalised’

Thirty-six French nationals were on board the flotilla, the latest attempt by activists to breach Israel’s blockade of Gaza after Israeli forces intercepted a previous convoy last month.

While Barrot said France disapproved of the flotilla’s actions, arguing they served “no useful purpose”, he added that “we cannot tolerate French nationals being threatened, intimidated or brutalised in this way, especially by a public official.”

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Spain has also urged the EU to sanction Ben-Gvir while the UK summoned Israel’s most senior diplomat in Britain following “the inflammatory video”.

The activists had departed from Turkey last week on around 50 vessels under the Global Sumud Flotilla.

Israel controls all entry points into Gaza, which has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007.

After the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, Israel’s retaliatory campaign killed at least 70,000 people in Gaza. The territory has also suffered severe shortages of food, medicine and other essential supplies, with Israel at times halting aid deliveries entirely.

A previous flotilla attempt was intercepted last month in international waters off Greece, with most activists expelled to Europe.

With reporting from © AFP 2026 

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