Irish Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan issued travel bans on Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, according to Taoiseach or Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin. Ben-Gvir serves as the National Security Minister of Israel while Smotrich is the Finance Minister.
France had announced last month that it banned Ben-Gvir from entering the country after he posted a video mocking Global Sumud Flotilla activists, who were detained and bound by Israeli soldiers. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had also criticised Ben-Gvir, saying his actions were “not in line with Israel’s values”.
The United Kingdom, Australia, Norway, Canada, and New Zealand had imposed sanctions on Ben-Gvir and Smotrich last year for “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities”.
The United Kingdom banned both ministers from entering the country and directed the freezing of any assets, marking the first time Israeli ministers were sanctioned by Western governments.
The Foreign Secretary of the time, David Lammy, said Smotrich and Ben-Gvir had “incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights”.
Taoiseach Martin told the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Monetenegro on Friday that the actions and words of the ministers “amount to a desire to see the elimination of Palestinians from palestine”.
Irish broadcaster RTE reported that Martin said he believed there should be further measures from the European Union against them.
France, Spain, and Italy have also called on the European Union to sanction the Israeli National Security Minister.
“That’s again something that the international community needs to take on board and we will be pursuing that with others,” said Martin “In my view, their behaviour justifies sanctions at EU level as well, and that’s something that we will raise, whether we can get sufficient support across the European Union is a different matter.”
A spokesperson for the Irish Justice Minister said in a statement that the travel bans on the two ministers were in place after they were approved by the Irish government outside of a cabinet decision during the week.
