France Balks at BDS Ban

YERUSHALAYIM

The French foreign ministry indicated on Tuesday that it would not meekly accept Israel’s decision to deny entry to seven French politicians who support BDS.

“We want all French parliamentarians to have access to all of the interlocutors they wish to meet in order to conduct their fact-finding missions,” the spokesperson for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement quoted by The Times of Israel.

“We are paying close attention to this matter with respect to Israel as with respect to all countries that French elected officials visit,” the statement added.

Interior Minister Aryeh Deri said on Monday that he had accepted the recommendation of Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan to deny entry to the French parliamentarians and mayors, part of a larger group of 20 European officials who applied to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories later this month.

The group avowed that its primary purpose was to visit Marwan Barghouti and other Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli jails and offer them support. Barghouti is serving five concurrent life sentences for masterminding deadly terror attacks during the Second Intifada in the early 2000’s.

To Read The Full Story

Are you already a subscriber?
Click to log in!