France in spat with Israel after turning away prominent settler

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France has turned away a prominent Israeli settler who landed at a Paris airport, causing a new diplomatic clash with the Israeli government.The French Foreign Ministry confirmed…

France has turned away a prominent Israeli settler who landed at a Paris airport, causing a new diplomatic clash with the Israeli government.

The French Foreign Ministry confirmed that Yossi Dagan, the head of an Israeli government body that oversees the development of settlements in the occupied West Bank, was banned from entering France.

Mr Dagan has played an “active role in implementing the policy of settlement in the West Bank”, the ministry said. It added that “settlement activity is contrary to international law and undermines the two-state solution”.

The ban on Mr Dagan had not previously been made public by French authorities. Since 2024, Paris has banned 59 Israelis linked to the settler movement.

Their names have not been released, with the exception of decisions to ban Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich in June and Itamar Ben-Gvir in May. Mr Dagan is closely aligned with the two ministers.

The ban on Mr Smotrich was taken alongside several other EU countries, as well as Australia, Canada and the UK, after an outcry over the mistreatment of European activists on a flotilla to Gaza following their arrest by Israeli authorities at sea.

Mr Dagan was reportedly taken aside by border officials after landing at a Paris airport on Wednesday. He was told he could not enter France because of his role in establishing 35 settlements in the northern West Bank and for promoting the re-establishment of Jewish settlements in Gaza, the Times of Israel reported.

Such bans have fuelled a long-simmering diplomatic spat between the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and France, as well as with other nations such as the Netherlands that have implemented similar policies towards the Israeli settler movement. Relations with Israel soured when French President Emmanuel Macron last year led the recognition of a Palestinian state alongside 10 other western nations.

Europeans had been hoping for improved relations after the Israeli elections in October.

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