Israel has banned French presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melanchon and Mathilde Fano, who heads his party's group in the National Assembly, from entering the country, on the orders of Foreign Minister and Interior Minister Gideon Sa'ar. The Foreign Ministry cited the "extreme anti-Israel policy" of Melanchon's party, La France Insomisse, and accused its leaders of "blood plots" against Israel.
The ban comes days after Mlenchon pledged, at a campaign rally near Paris, to act directly on behalf of the Palestinians against the genocide in Gaza and the creeping annexation of the occupied West Bank, and to send French ships to escort civilian flotillas if necessary. He also rejected the annexation of South Lebanon and the Golan Heights. His 2027 party program calls for imposing sanctions on the Netanyahu government and suspending the association agreement between the European Union and Israel.