DUBLIN: Ireland announced on Friday it has banned Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country, slamming their behaviour towards pro-Palestinian activists.

Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan “has instructed immigration officers to refuse entry to Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich should they seek to enter the state”, a justice ministry statement said.

After the far-right minister Ben Gvir mocked activists seized by Israeli soldiers on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla last month, Irish taoiseach (prime minister) Micheal Martin said Ireland would act to bar entry of Israeli officials seen as fomenting conflict in Gaza.

Firebrand Ben Gvir became a minister in 2022, after an alliance with the far-right Religious Zionist party of Bezalel Smotrich came third in legislative elections.

France opens probe over treatment of flotilla activists

Together, Ben Gvir and Smotrich form a cornerstone of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition government.

The two ministers’ behaviour “not just in the context of the flotilla, but their consistent statements… essentially amount to a desire to see the elimination of Palestinians from Palestine”, Martin told reporters during a summit in Montenegro on Friday.

“In my view, their behaviour justifies sanctions at the EU level as well,” he said.

Last month, France also banned Ben Gvir from entry over his conduct.

Britain barred the two from entry in June last year and other countries have followed, including Spain and Slovenia.

Ireland has been among the most outspoken critics of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and recognised the Palestinian state in 2024.

Soon after, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar ordered the closure of its Dublin embassy.

Flotilla activists

France has opened an investigation into Israel’s treatment of French activists who took part in a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, a prosecutor’s office said on Friday.

The probe was opened at the government’s request, the national counterterrorism prosecutor’s office (PNAT) said, after activists accused Israeli authorities of mistreatment during their detention last month.

Israel detained more than 430 activists from countries around the world after intercepting them in international waters on May 18 as they made the latest in a string of attempts to break the blockade of the Palestinian territory.

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir sparked widespread condemnation after he posted a video mocking the flotilla activists while they were bound.

France banned Ben Gvir from entry over the incident.

Several French activists narrated a violent and humiliating ordeal when eight of them returned home on May 22.

Two of the more than 30 French persons who were on board the flotilla were still in hospital in Turkiye, they told reporters.

One returnee described a soldier slapping her in a dark container, and being terrified that she would be raped.

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2026