Germany bars journalist who called for Israel sanctions

The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism recommended that the Population and Immigration Authority bar German journalist Serena Bilanceri from entering Israel, after she published two opinion pieces in 2025 calling for economic and military sanctions against the Jewish state. The authority accepted the recommendation, according to the ministry, preventing her appointment as the Israel correspondent for the German newspaper taz.

Bilanceri, 43, a German journalist of Italian origin, reports from Jordan, Syria and Israel on the Israeli-Arab conflict. According to the ministry, she requested a work visa recommendation from the Government Press Office on behalf of the newspaper. The ministry said its recommendation was forwarded to the Population Authority under Amendment 40 to the Entry into Israel Law and in accordance with an agreement between the ministries regarding the transfer of recommendations and information.

The ministry said Bilanceri echoes anti-Israel messages, including the claim that Israel is an "apartheid state." According to the ministry, in at least two opinion articles she publicly called for sanctions on Israel, and these calls meet the legal criteria for denying entry and a residency permit to Israel.

Ministry director-general Avi Cohen Scali said: "Anti-Israel elements and those who slander Israel should not set foot in it. We will not tolerate calls to boycott Israel under the guise of professional journalism. Professional journalism is not supposed to take sides in the conflict it covers, and certainly not exploit the state's platforms to advance agendas that harm it."

In an article she published on November 17, 2025, under the headline "Sanctions Against Israel," Bilanceri adopted Amnesty International's definition of Israel as an "apartheid state." She wrote: "Settler violence is not an isolated incident, but part of a radical expulsion strategy. The pressure must come from the international community. The United States, as well as Germany and Europe, must impose economic and military sanctions."

In another article, published on September 1, 2025, she wrote that "the European Union must now act together," against the backdrop of Germany's opposition to the European Commission's proposal to impose sanctions on Israel over the war in Gaza. She called on EU member states to act jointly, adding: "Europe is now required to take a firm stance. And if this step is not effective, additional sanctions must be imposed. There are proposals for this, also at the European level. You just have to want to implement them."