The French government today condemned Israel's decision to ban the entry of presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, classifying it as a demagogic act.
© Romain Costaseca / Hans Lucas / AFP via Getty Images)
12/11/2026
by
Lusa
O french government condemned today and classified as an act of demagogy the decision announced by Israel to prohibit entry into the country of the French presidential candidate and leftist leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot criticised what he defined as a “demagogical decision” – because, in any case, Mélenchon did not intend to travel to Israel – taken by a government, the Israeli outgoing government of Benjamin Netanyahu, “which has multiplied the violations of international law”.
However, in yet another episode of the obvious conflict between the French Government and Mélenchon — which the minister has repeatedly described as an agitator — Barrot also questioned Israel’s good political sense, stating that announcements of this kind “just play the game of those who, like the French Insubmissive Party (LFI, in French, which Mélenchon leads), live off the instrumentalisation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”.
“France will continue to act tirelessly in favour of the two-state solution and the peaceful coexistence of the Israeli and Palestinian peoples,” concluded the head of French diplomacy.
Israel today banned the entry of both Mélenchon and the leader of its party's parliamentary group, Mathilde Panot, for "defaming" the country with "scandal comments", and, for example, the proposal that French warships escort humanitarian flotillas to the Gaza Strip.
Upon learning of the ban, Mélenchon reacted by declaring that the decision of the Israeli authorities will have no effect on his position of condemnation of Israel.
“I did not ask to enter the country,” Mélenchon said in an interview with FranceInfo, in which he ensured that, if he wins the victory in the forthcoming presidential elections in France scheduled for 18 April and 2 May 2027, “what has to be said will be said” and he will without a doubt denounce “the genocide in Gaza, the colonization in the West Bank and the progressive annexation of southern Lebanon and the Golan Mountains.”.