LONDON: An Israeli decision to bar French journalist Alice Froussard from entering the country has triggered sharp criticism from press freedom advocacy groups and media organizations, even as France responded cautiously and avoided any overt diplomatic escalation.
Froussard, a reporter for Radio France Internationale who has covered the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for years, was denied entry at Ben Gurion airport on Wednesday and deported to France after being questioned and detained overnight, her employers said.
Israeli officials said the decision was based on the journalist’s public comments about the conflict.
The incident was quickly condemned by RFI, part of France’s public broadcasting corporation, which said the move was “an obstacle to press freedom” and noted that she had all the required travel authorization and had applied for a press visa to work in the West Bank.
RFI’s news director, Agnes Vahramian, described the deportation as “deeply troubling,” and said the station’s “management fully supports Alice Froussard and protests against this expulsion, which constitutes an obstruction of press freedom and comes at a time when journalists are facing increasing difficulties” in the region.
Other media and journalists’ groups echoed these concerns. In a statement on Friday, the Committee to Protect Journalists said the move was “just the latest indication of a growing pattern of restrictions on foreign journalists covering Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.”
Radio France Internationale journalist Alice Froussard. (RSF/File)
The committee’s regional manager, Sara Qudah, added: “Preventing a journalist from entering because of her reporting undermines press freedom and the public’s right to independent information.”
The Foreign Press Association’s branch in Israel described the accusations against Froussard as “outrageous” and urged authorities to reverse the decision, while the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate said the deportation was a violation of press freedom and the right of journalists to access information.
The French journalists’ union SNJ-CGT went further, denouncing the expulsion as “an inadmissible attack on press freedom” and accusing Israeli authorities of trying to control the narrative by obstructing coverage of the region.
The reaction reflected broader concerns among international media groups that access to Gaza and the occupied West Bank for foreign correspondents was being progressively tightened.
Following the expulsion, Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism cited remarks in which Froussard reportedly said the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks led by Hamas should be viewed “in context,” and used terms such as “apartheid” and “massacre” to describe Israeli policies and actions. It’s minister, Amichai Chikli, publicly celebrated the deportation and said anyone who supported Hamas or the boycott movement against Israel would not be allowed entry.
A stun grenade explodes while journalists film as an Israeli army armoured vehicle approaches along an alley in the Balata camp for Palestinian refugees, east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, during an Israeli military operation on June 7, 2026. (AFP/File)
The incident is the latest in a series of cases in which Israeli authorities have denied permission for foreign journalists to enter the country, and raises concerns that the dispute could heighten tensions with Paris after a separate row over French sanctions against Israeli officials.
In February, Italian photojournalist Alessandro Stefanelli had his digital visa revoked and he was then refused entry at the Allenby Bridge crossing between Jordan and the West Bank after being questioned for about five hours.
A document presented to him reportedly labeled his coverage of Israel “one-sided” and said he had described the situation in the West Bank as “apartheid.” Authorities used this as part of their justification for denying entry.
Other journalists on whom Israeli authorities have imposed entry bans, for similar reasons, include Spanish reporter Queralt Castillo Cerezuela and French journalist Khadija Toufik. Israel has defended such decisions, casting them as security and political measures rather than issues of press access.
Jordan Bardella (R), leader of France’s National Rally, listens to Israel’s Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli during a March 2025 visit to a memorial for victims and hostages of the October 7 attack. (AFP/File)
In a statement on Thursday, Reporters Without Borders said the latest incident “reflects a broader effort to obstruct foreign media coverage of the West Bank. After its media blockade on Gaza, is Israel now targeting the West Bank?”
The media rights group also questioned whether it was political retaliation, coming as it did the day after the French foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barrot, announced that the Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, was banned from visiting France because of “incitement to violence” and advocating for the “annexation of the West Bank.”
It added: “After the French consulate in Jerusalem expressed its outrage on June 11 about Alice Froussard’s expulsion, the (Israeli) minister responded by directly addressing President Emmanuel Macron and his foreign minister, criticizing France’s sanctions against Israeli officials.”
So far, however, French authorities have struck a more measured tone. The Foreign Ministry said it had opened up diplomatic channels to assist Froussard but acknowledged that the decision to deport her was within the rights of Israel’s government.
“We regret this decision, which nevertheless falls within the sovereignty of the Israeli authorities,” the ministry said, adding that it remained committed to “support for press freedom and for the free and safe practice of the profession.”
The ministry did not issue a public condemnation, and the French Embassy in Israel expressed “strong indignation” without escalating the matter to a broader diplomatic dispute.
