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Slovenia has declared two top Israeli ministers personae non grata over “genocidal statements” and other violations of Palestinian human rights, barring them from entering the country in what Slovenian officials say is a first for a country in the European Union.
Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon announced the sanctions on the pair on Thursday, saying that the government seeks to pressure the Israeli government to end the genocide in Gaza.
The government said in a statement that Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, “with their genocidal statements, incite extreme violence and serious violations of the human rights of Palestinians.” The government also called out the ministers for their backing of Israel’s illegal settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.
Fajon said that Slovenia is “breaking new ground” with the sanctions, and that the announcement is “the first of its kind in the European Union.” The government is also preparing other measures, she said.
The U.K., Norway, Australia, New Zealand and Canada sanctioned Ben-Gvir and Smotrich in June over incitements of violence in the West Bank. The sanctions include travel bans and barring financial institutions in the country from having ties with the ministers.
Ben-Gvir and Smotrich are key players in Israel’s genocide in Gaza and de facto annexation of the West Bank. Just last month, in response to the U.K. and other countries’ sanctions, Smotrich directed Israel’s finance ministry to effectively cut off Palestinian banks from being able to operate — a move that experts said would decimate the Palestinian economy.
However, this week, the EU declined to endorse sanctions against Israel over its violence in Gaza and the West Bank in a meeting on Tuesday.
Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard condemned the EU’s decision as “a cruel and unlawful betrayal of the European project and vision,” adding: “This will be remembered as one of the most disgraceful moments in the EU’s history.”
The Slovenian government said that the decision to declare Ben-Gvir and Smotrich as personae non grata came after the EU’s decision this week.
Slovenia recognized a Palestinian state last year, in June. The country is one of just a handful that have done so in Europe.
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