France bans Israeli minister Smotrich in coordinated sanctions push

France Tuesday banned Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country, as part of coordinated sanctions with other countries over settler violence against Palestinians. Smotrich is the second member of the Israeli government to be forbidden from entering France in recent months, after National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir was barred on May 23 for mocking activists detained by Israeli soldiers from a Gaza-bound flotilla carrying aid for the Palestinian territory.