Committee to make long-awaited decision on Israeli passport bill today

The Parliament’s Security Services Committee is set to make a decision on legislature submitted to ban Israel passports on Monday, after consulting with Attorney General Ahmed Usham.

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu’s cabinet made the decision to make legislative changes to ban Israeli passports on June 2, 2024.

At the time, the Parliament had already received a bill from Meekail Ahmed Naseem, a parliamentarian from the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), seeking a blanket ban on travelers with Israeli passports.

The South Galolhu representative’s bill, submitted the legislature on May 29, 2024, is designed to add a clause to Article 8 of Immigration Act, which lists individuals who are barred from entering the Maldives.

It seeks to bar the entry of all Israeli passport holders, including those who have dual citizenship.

Following the cabinet’s decision, the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC), who hold a supermajority in the Parliament, decided to accept the bill, and make the changes the government wants during the committee stage.

But the bill, which was sent to the Security Services (241) Committee on June 10, has remained stymied.

During a committee meeting on Monday morning, members discussed an amendment to the bill proposed by Immigration.

The agency proposed changing the phrasing to ban “individuals who show Israeli passports seeking permission to enter the Maldives”.

Immigration said that the agency determines the citizenship of foreign individuals who seek entry to the Maldives based on the passport they show, and has no way to check if they have dual citizenship.

The agency opinioned that the propose bill therefore cannot be implemented.

The rest of the committee meeting was held with the mics turned off.

The mic was turned back on at conclusion of the meeting, as the committee’s chair, Eydhafushi MP Ahmed Saleem (Redwave Saleem) announced a second meeting would be held at 02:00 pm after discussing “a minor contradiction.”

“An additional committee meeting will be held at 02:00 pm. So, we will finish this in the meeting. The passport will be banned,” he said.

MDP parliamentarians have repeatedly submitted emergency motions and resolutions urging the expedition of the bill. Following mounting pressure not just from the MDP but also from the general public, the PNC said the work on the bill remains ongoing, and will be completed as soon as possible. But there is concern from some regarding the protentional economic repercussions from a blanket plan, with some suggesting that the ban should be limited only to those who serve in the Israeli Defense Forces. In November 2024, Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim, who sits in the Security Services Committee, proposed conducting an impact assessment before implementing such a ban.

Mounting outrage over the atrocities in Gaza and other occupied Palestinian territories have sparked protests in the streets of the capital, Male’ City, with Maldivians demanding that the government ban Israeli citizens from entering the country.

Israel’s current war on Gaza, which began on October 7, 2023, has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children. It has also reduced much of the Palestinian territory to rubble, displaced the vast majority of residents, and resulted in widespread malnutrition. A fragile ceasefire that took effect in January collapsed in March.