Irish officials have been instructed to block any effort by hardline Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich to travel to the Republic, a symbolic but significant sanction of the Israeli government. Confirming the effective travel ban on Friday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said a direction had been given to prohibit the two Israeli politicians from travelling to the State. “Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan, [it] is my understanding, has instructed his officials to prohibit any travel into Ireland [for] both minister Ben-Gvir and minister Smotrich,” Martin said. Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, ministers for national security and finance respectively, have been among the most outspoken advocates for Israel’s campaign in Gaza and the West Bank. The Government had recently condemned Ben-Gvir for releasing a video of himself taunting activists who had been on board a Gaza aid flotilla, after they were detained by Israeli forces. Speaking on Friday in Montenegro, Martin said the behaviour of the politicians “justifies” them being subject to wider reaching sanctions at European Union level. The statements of the far-right Israeli ministers essentially “amount to a desire to see the elimination of Palestinians from Palestine”, the Fianna Fáil leader said. “That’s again something that the international community needs to take on board and we will be pursuing that with others,” he said. “In my view, their behaviour justifies sanctions at EU level as well, and that’s something that we will raise, whether we can get sufficient support across the European Union is a different matter,” he said. There has been a fresh attempt in Brussels to sanction Ben-Gvir, in the aftermath of the flotilla controversy, but the push fell short of the required unanimous agreement of all 27 national governments needed to levy sanctions on individuals. Previous efforts to sanction the two hardline ministers were blocked by the former Hungarian government, led by far-right populist Viktor Orbán, a staunch defender of Israel. The recent change of government in Budapest has seen discussions among diplomats and officials resume about attempting to sanction Ben-Gvir and Smotrich.