The ministers are accused of inciting "extreme violence and serious violations of the Palestinians' human rights" with their "genocide statements", according to a statement from the government. Slovenia thus becomes the first country in the EU to declare the ministers "persona non grata".
This is the first time such types of measures are taken in the EU, says Slovenia's Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon about the decision.
Prime Minister Robert Golob has previously driven for a pause in the EU's trade agreement with Israel and been clear that his own country is willing to do so on its own if the union cannot agree on tougher measures.
Requires unanimity
Unfortunately, some important member states put their own interests first, instead of the Palestinians' human rights. We should have done much more earlier – but it's never too late, he said during an EU summit in Brussels in June.
If the EU as a whole were to impose sanctions on Israeli ministers, it requires unanimity among all member states, which is currently far away as Israel has strong support in, among other countries, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
Sweden is already one of the EU countries that wants to see an evaluation of whether Israel's actions in Gaza violate the terms of the EU's cooperation agreement and has also said it wants to work for the introduction of sanctions against Israeli ministers, as a mark against the country's settlement policy.
"Scandalous"
The two ministers have previously been sanctioned by the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Norway. The background is "repeated incitement to violence against Palestinian communities" according to a joint statement from the countries last month.
The sanctions mean that Smotrich and Ben-Gvir will be subject to travel bans and will have assets frozen in the countries.
Scandalous, commented Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on the decision at a press conference then.
