On Thursday, Israel’s Foreign Ministry announced that Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of La France Insoumise, and Mathilde Panot, chair of the party’s parliamentary group, are not welcome in the country. Overnight into Friday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot called the measure “a demagogic decision”. The word is his. This is not a court ruling, and it is not a ban on travel inside France.

In his post, Barrot writes that the decision comes “from a government that has repeatedly violated international law” and that it “plays into the hands of those who, like La France Insoumise, make a living out of exploiting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”. He added that France will keep working toward a two-state solution. Barrot belongs to the centrist ruling coalition and, in the same sentence, also hits Mélenchon’s party. The “violations of international law” remain the minister’s wording.

Israel explains the ban by the party’s “extreme anti-Israel stance” and by the “outrageous statements” of its leaders. The ministry accuses the two of spreading “blood libels” and says Mélenchon called for French ships to escort “illegal flotillas” to Gaza. The statement: “Israel will respond firmly to those who seek to harm it and will not allow individuals who act against Israel and incite against its citizens to enter the country.” Gideon Sa’ar confirmed that the ban also covers Panot, according to 20 Minutes and the Jerusalem Post.

Mélenchon told Franceinfo that he is “banned from entering a territory I did not ask to enter” and that he regrets the Israeli government “is pursuing me like this”. Panot wrote on X that she is “still looking for the bad news” and added: “Message to the Israeli authorities: Free Palestine!” Neither of them says a ticket had been booked.

On Saturday, campaigning for the presidential election of April 2027, Mélenchon said that if he becomes president, French ships will escort aid flotillas to Gaza. 20 Minutes recalls that, after 7 October 2023, he accused Israeli officials of “genocide” in Gaza, a charge Israel rejects. In a post cited by Middle East Eye he also wrote that he does not accept the “gradual annexation” of the West Bank, southern Lebanon or the Golan Heights. Those are his words, not a finding.

The ban comes a week after France refused entry to Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria regional council, at Charles de Gaulle, over his role in settlement policy. Paris says that policy violates international law. Earlier this year France also stopped ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. Thursday’s exchange is an entry ban announced by Israel, not a conviction and not a cancelled visit.

Image: Wikimedia Commons — the Quai d’Orsay, seat of the French Foreign Ministry, photograph by Jebulon (CC0). The building belongs to the ministry that published the reaction. It is not from Thursday and does not show Mélenchon or Panot.

Sources consulted: France slams Israel’s demagogic ban on opposition leader Melenchon — Al Jazeera; Jean-Noël Barrot furious with Israel after the ban on Mélenchon — 20 Minutes; France blasts Israel's barring of left-wing figures as a demagogic decision — The Jerusalem Post.