© ReutersIsraeli minister for national security Itamar Ben-Gvir last month mocking detained activists who had been aboard a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. Video: Reuters
Irish officials have been instructed to block any attempts by hardline Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich to travel to the State, a symbolic but significant sanction of the Israeli government.
Confirming the effective travel ban on Friday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said a direction had been given to prohibit the Israeli politicians from entering the country.
"Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan, [it] is my understanding, has instructed his officials to prohibit any travel into Ireland [for] both minister Ben-Gvir and minister Smotrich," Martin told reporters in Tivat, Montenegro, where he was attending a meeting bringing together EU leaders and their counterparts from the western Balkans.
Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, ministers for national security and finance respectively, have been among the most outspoken advocates for Israel's campaign in Gaza and the West Bank.
The Government recently condemned Ben-Gvir for releasing a video of himself taunting activists, who had been on board a Gaza aid flotilla, after they were detained by Israeli forces.
Comment:
Martin said the behaviour of the politicians "justifies" them being subject to wider-reaching sanctions at European Union level. The statements of the far-right Israeli ministers essentially "amount to a desire to see the elimination of Palestinians from Palestine", the Fianna Fáil leader said.
"That's again something that the international community needs to take on board and we will be pursuing that with others.
"In my view, their behaviour justifies sanctions at EU level as well, and that's something that we will raise; whether we can get sufficient support across the European Union is a different matter."
A defiant Ben-Gvir wrote on X in response to Martin: "If this antisemite is calling for sanctions against me, I must have done something right."
There has been a fresh attempt in Brussels to sanction Ben-Gvir in response to the flotilla controversy, but it is still unclear whether such a move would secure the unanimous agreement of all 27 member state governments.
Israel's actions during and after its two-year war in Gaza, which reduced large parts of the Palestinian enclave to rubble and saw famine spread through the besieged population, were "unacceptable", Martin said.
"We're now hearing very poor, negative reports about the absence of really sufficient humanitarian and medical aid going in [to Gaza]. Almost what we're witnessing is a sort of permanent state of subjugation of a people and that's not acceptable," he said.
Diplomats from the 27 governments have been debating whether their leaders could agree to EU-level sanctions on extremist Israeli ministers.
Recent closed-door discussions suggest Germany, always a firm defender of Israel, might be open to the bloc sanctioning Ben-Gvir, but not Smotrich, according to one source briefed on the talks. However, the Czech government is opposing EU sanctions on either man, which would prevent any restrictions being approved.
Meanwhile, the Government is scheduled to bring the Occupied Territories Bill to the Dáil next week. First proposed by Independent Senator Frances Black more than eight years ago, the Bill was stalled by successive governments before finally being adopted - and rewritten - by the current administration.
It is now called the Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2026.
However, contrary to the wishes of many campaigners, the Bill will not include a prohibition on trading in services with entities in the occupied Palestinian territories. Opposition figures have promised to seek to amend the Bill to include services, though these efforts will be resisted by the Government.
The Dáil is due to debate the second stage of the Bill - actually the first Dáil debate on its general principles and aims - for 3½ hours next Wednesday.
Sinn Féin will on Tuesday bring a motion urging the Government to block the soccer international between the Republic of Ireland and Israel scheduled for October and to compensate the FAI for any costs it incurs.
Comment: Ireland, with its history of occupation and suffering under the English have a visceral understanding of the Palestinian situation.