Maldives bans entry on Israeli passports until attacks stop

Maldives has enacted amendments to its immigration laws, banning entries on Israeli passports until Israel stops its attacks on Palestine.

The amendment was ratified by President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu and published on the Government Gazette on Tuesday afternoon, shortly after its passage.

But the legislature is a severely boiled down version of the original one presented to the Parliament months ago.

President 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 on May 29, 2024, was designed to add a clause to Article 8 of Immigration Act, which lists individuals who are barred from entering the Maldives.

It sought to bar the entry of all Israeli passport holders, including those with 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, had remained stymied.

On Monday, over 316 days after the Maldivian administration announced its decision to ban Israelis from entering the Maldives, the Security Services Committee passed the bill, but with major amendments.

The bill has been overhauled to stipulate a ban on entries on Israeli passports “until Israel stops the inhumane attacks it launched on Palestinian people on October 7, 2023.” Meanwhile, the clause which stipulates that the ban should also extend to Israelis who have dual citizenship has been removed.

During the debate on the committee’s report on Tuesday morning, Meekail criticized the amendments, saying it is now the complete antithesis of his objective in submitting the bill, and “makes a mockery of the plight of Palestinians.”

But when voting time came, he, along with other MDP parliamentarians, voted in favor of the bill, which passed with the unanimous vote of 83 parliamentarians in attendance.

Earlier on Tuesday, Meekail criticized the committee’s decision to remove the clause banning entry of Israelis with dual citizenship – a clause that he said was crucial for the legislature to have any substance.

He pointed out that the majority of Israelis, including government leaders and senior officials of the Israeli Defense Forces, have dual citizenship and can continue to enter the Maldives with their second passport.

He also criticized the vague phrasing the bill now has, asking who decides what “inhumane attacks” mean, or who decides when the inhumane attacks stop.

Meanwhile, Ibrahim Falah, the leader of PNC’s parliamentary group, alleged that Meekail’s objective in submitting the bill hadn’t been to ban Israelis from entering Maldives, but to cause “political harm to the government” believing the government would hesitate to make such a move or “instigate economic ruin” if it does.

“But this administration, our honorable President and this government, will not overlook such previous attacks on the holy Islamic faith, and a country that we love where our fellow brothers and sisters live, even if we starve,” he said.

“We will ban [Israeli passports]. We have proved we will.”

The committee had decided to amend the bill after Maldives Immigration said they determine 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.

MDP parliamentarians had repeatedly submitted emergency motions and resolutions urging the expedition of the bill. In response to mounting pressure not just from the MDP but also from the general public, the PNC said the work on the bill remained ongoing, and would be completed as soon as possible. 

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.