Ireland urged the EU to sanction Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, while advancing legislation to restrict trade with West Bank settlements. The move comes amid mounting criticism of Israel's handling of detained activists from the Gaza flotilla the IDF took over last month
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Ireland urged the EU to sanction Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, while advancing legislation to restrict trade with West Bank settlements. The move comes amid mounting criticism of Israel's handling of detained activists from the Gaza flotilla the IDF took over last month
04:34 AM • June 06 2026 IDT
Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin said far-right Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir are banned from entering the country.
Ireland is the latest country to bar Ben-Gvir and Smotrich from entering its borders. Other countries that have so far imposed a ban on the two's entry are Britain, Norway, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain and Slovenia.
The Irish prime minister said Ben-Gvir's and Smotrich's behavior "not just in the context of the flotilla, but their consistent statements in terms of Palestinians, essentially, amounts to a desire to see the elimination of Palestinians from Palestine."
According to him, the issue is "something that the international community needs to take on board."
Government has introduced travel bans on Israeli Ministers Ben-Gvir and Smotrich. Responding to the move in a post on X, Ben-Gvir said , "If this antisemite is calling for 'sanctions' against me, it probably means I did something right." Speaking to Ireland's state broadcaster about the sanctions against the two ministers, Martin also said that "given now that the blockage in terms of the sanctions against settlers, in my view, their behavior justifies sanctions at EU level as well, and that's something that we will raise." Last week, Irish Foreign Minister Helen McEntee said Dublin aims to pass a law curbing goods trade with settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank by mid-July. Ireland's government, one of the most outspoken critics of Israel's war in Gaza, first promised to sanction Israeli settlements in October 2024. The legislation has since been held up by pressure from opposition politicians who aimed to extend the ban also to services trade, on one side, and international company lobbyists seeking to scrap the bill, on the other. Sources told Reuters last October that the bill was set to be limited to goods. Ireland's prime minister said in late May that widening the scope to services was neither "implementable" nor "viable." Last month, Ben-Gvir, who oversees the Israel Police and Israel Prison Service, released a video showing detained participants of the intercepted Gaza-bound flotilla being bound and dragged in Israel's Ashdod Port. In the video, masked police officers are seen pushing the flotilla activists to the ground, forcing them to stand on all fours, and dragging them across the floor. The activists are seen lined up inside a warehouse, forced to kneel with their faces to the ground with their hands zip-tied behind their backs. Haaretz Podcast total-- : --time0:00 The Israeli Navy took over the flotilla in international waters off the coast of Greece, detaining its participants, including Irish activist Dr. Margaret Connolly, the sister of Irish President Catherine Connolly. According to Connolly, detainees were "given no toilet paper, no medicines, nothing," she said. According to her, detainees on an Israeli Navy vessel "stared at the ground the whole time" and personnel aboard the ship "kicked you if you looked up." After their release from Israel, the activists said they were subjected to abuse, with several hospitalized with injuries and at least 15 reporting sexual assaults, including rape.We will also continue to raise the possibility of sanctions at EU level.Haaretz Podcast
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