The League for Human Rights in France criticized a private visit expected by the far-right Israeli minister , Bezalel Smotrich , to Paris on March 19, and confirmed on Tuesday that he was "not welcome," denouncing his "colonial, anti-Arab, and homophobic" personality.

The controversial Minister of Finance in Benjamin Netanyahu's government has been invited to Paris to participate in an evening in honor of Jacques Kupfer, the radical Zionist activist and former head of the Likud Party (Netanyahu's party) in France. The event is held by small extremist groups such as the League for the Defense of the Jews.

The League for Human Rights indicated in a statement that Bezalel Smotrich, who is also responsible for civil affairs in the occupied West Bank, is a fierce defender of "Greater Israel" and is himself a settler, and drew attention to the minister's "racist and anti-gay" stances.

At the end of February, Smotrich called for the "erasing" of the Palestinian village of Hawara in the occupied West Bank, after the killing of two young settlers there. Their killing led settlers to carry out violent reprisals, as they attacked the village and burned a large number of its buildings.

Smotrich's remarks sparked angry reactions in Washington, Paris and at the United Nations, prompting the minister to admit that "it is possible that the word was chosen poorly."

The League of Human Rights statement confirmed that "Smotrich fundamentally opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state and wants to subjugate the Israeli legal system to the Torah. In the face of this wave of fanatical racism and denial of basic rights, the League of Human Rights expresses its displeasure and condemnation of everything that this character represents."

Smotrich's private visit comes amidst a very tense atmosphere in the occupied West Bank as well as in Israel, where parliament is debating a controversial judicial reform that has led to widespread demonstrations denouncing an undemocratic aberration.

On Monday, the head of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France, CRIF, Jonathan Arvi, denounced "hateful and populist speeches in the Israeli public debate, even by some current ministers."

When asked about this private visit, the French Foreign Ministry said that it would not communicate with the minister.