Israel has denied entry to two European Parliament members from Sweden’s Left Party, Jonas Sjöstedt and Hanna Gedin, who had requested to visit the Palestinian Authority. The two were scheduled to arrive in Israel on Sunday night.
The decision was made at the request of Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, in accordance with the Entry into Israel Law.
According to the Foreign Ministry, Sjöstedt and Gedin have consistently acted against Israel in recent years, including by calling for international legal proceedings against Israelis. On various occasions, they have accused Israel of genocide, deliberately starving Palestinians and intentionally targeting children and medical personnel.
In June, Israel’s Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli said that he had recommended barring American anti-Zionist activist Linda Sarsour from entering the country.
Sarsour had been planning to visit Israel the following month, the ministry said in a press release, adding that the Immigration and Population Authority had accepted the recommendation and blocked her entry.
“We continue to uncompromisingly implement the policy I have set out at the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism: Anyone who incites and supports boycotts against the State of Israel will bear the consequences and be boycotted themselves,” said Chikli.
The same month, Israel barred French journalist Alice Froussard from entering the country.
“I am pleased to announce that at this very moment, Alice Froussard, a French journalist who supports Hamas, and who claims that the October 7 massacre must be viewed ‘in context,’ is making her way from Ben Gurion Airport back to Paris,” Chikli wrote in an X post. “Like Linda Sarsour before her, she too has learned that the State of Israel has run out of patience for Hamas supporters and for those who support sanctions and boycotts against it.”
In May, Israel banned 40 activists affiliated with the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor organization from entering the country, citing ties between the group’s leadership and Hamas terrorists.
