French presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon has been barred from entering Israel due to his allegedly ‘extremely anti-Israel’ stance.
Mélenchon is the leader of the far-left party La France Insoumise (LFI) and is known for his strong anti-Israeli views. Among other things, LFI refused to describe the Hamas massacre on 7 October 2023 as a terrorist attack.
Consequently, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has now announced that Mélenchon is persona non grata in Israel.
“Israel will respond resolutely against those who seek to harm the country, and will not allow individuals who act against Israel and incite violence against its citizens to enter the country,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry stated in a press release.
This places the French presidential candidate in the same category as our Foreign Minister, Espen Barth Eide.
The entry ban also applies to the parliamentary leader of Mélenchon’s party, LFI, Mathilde Panot, reports France 24.
“Both have made statements levelling blood libels against Israel, whilst Mélenchon has also called for French vessels to escort illegal flotillas to Gaza,” says Sa’ar.
The background to this is that Mélenchon recently said he would use French ships to force aid into Gaza if he were elected. Speaking to France Info, he said he could not be disappointed at being ‘denied entry to a country I did not wish to visit’.
The announcement comes a day after France confirmed that it had denied an Israeli entry. The individual in question was the leader of an organisation representing the settlements in Judea and Samaria, which most Western politicians and media regard as an occupied territory they refer to as the West Bank.
Mélenchon, a fierce critic of Israel who apparently had no plans to visit the country, said in a speech on Saturday that if he were elected, France would “take direct action in support of the Palestinians” both in Gaza and the West Bank.
“French ships, like Italian and Spanish ones, will, if necessary, escort the flotillas of citizens mobilised to defend people’s rights,” he said.
Several flotillas have attempted to break through the Israeli blockade of Gaza. Some activists claimed earlier this year that Israeli authorities subjected them to physical or sexual abuse whilst in custody, something the Israeli government categorically denies.
Israel previously imposed entry bans on a number of left-wing British politicians, including Jeremy Corbyn, after London introduced sanctions against products from the settlements.
