French gov't to boycott far-right Israel MK's visit

France’s Foreign Ministry yesterday announced that the French government has no plans to meet with Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is expected to land in Paris on Sunday for a Jewish National Fund event.

The ministry said it did not receive word of Smotrich’s arrival and is not planning on meeting with him.

The French position came after a similar position by the US administration, which boycotted the Israel Bonds investment conference, an event which markets Israeli government bonds to investors abroad, after organisers refused to cancel Smotrich’s attendance. Hundreds of American Jews and Israelis demonstrated in front of the hotel where the conference took place, and held banners criticising his openly racist views.

“Everyone hates Smotrich because he embodies the worst aspects of his government: the anti-democratic assault on the courts, his commitment to the legalisation of the settlements and the utter disregard for Palestinian human rights, in addition to his disdain for vast communities in Israeli society, such as women, homosexuals, and non-Orthodox Jewish streams,” President and CEO, Americans for Peace Now Hadar Susskind said.

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