Journalist Denied Entry to Israel After Antisemitic and Anti-Israel Remarks

The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism recommended that the Population and Immigration Authority bar journalist Alice Prosard from entering the country. Prosard had sought to return and work in Israel on a permanent basis and to request a work visa on behalf of Radio France Internationale (RFI) in France.

The Population and Immigration Authority accepted the recommendation of the ministry's director general, Avi Cohen Skali, which was submitted in line with the policy of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli. As a result, the journalist was deported this morning and put on a flight back to France.

Alice Prosard is a French journalist considered one of the prominent voices in the French media reporting from the field on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For the past six years, she has lived and worked in the Jerusalem and Ramallah area. She is usually employed as a freelancer and reports for leading broadcasters and newspapers in France, mainly news sites known for their sharply critical stance toward Israel.

Prosard asked to return to working regularly in Israel, but a review found that she held a series of anti-Israel statements, including legitimizing the October 7 massacre, referring to IDF activity in Gaza as a "massacre," and accusing the State of Israel of apartheid. Among other things, she claimed that the October 7 attack should be examined within its "context." She called Israel's laws "draconian," claimed that Israel's legal system is dual and constitutes an example of "apartheid," and said there was a strengthening of "apartheid" in Judea and Samaria.

Amichai Chikli, Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism: "Like Linda Sarsour and other inciters before her, Alice Prosard has also discovered that we have changed the rules of the game: anyone who supports Hamas and the boycott movement against the State of Israel will not be allowed to enter it. As for the expected criticism from Macron and Jean-Noel Barrot, who recognized a Palestinian state while our hostages were languishing in captivity, and who are imposing sanctions on Israeli ministers and citizens, you made this decision very easy."

Avi Cohen Skali, Director General of the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism: "Anyone who blackens the State of Israel will not work in it. We will continue to denounce antisemitic statements within Israel and beyond its borders."