Work on bill to ban Israeli passports extended until February 2025

The Parliament's Committee on National Security Services or the 241 Committee has extended the work on the bill to ban Israeli passports until the end of February 2025.

This comes at a time the bill has been halted at the parliament for over 150 days.

The extension of the bill's work was passed on Tuesday.

An emergency motion calling to expedite the work on the bill was submitted by MP for North Galolhu constituency Mohamed Ibrahim on October 28, after the bill to ban Israeli passports had been “stuck” in the committee for many days.

Speaker of the People’s Majlis Abdul Raheem Abdulla initially rejected the emergency motion submitted by the main-opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) regarding the delay in banning Israeli passports.

The emergency motion was submitted at a time when even the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) has called to speed up the work on the bill.

A bill to amend the Immigration Act to ban entry with Israeli passports was submitted to the parliament on 29 May 2024.

The bill was submitted by MP for South Galolhu constituency Meekail Naseem, in a bid to amend the Immigration Act, to ban the entry of tourists with Israeli passports into the Maldives.

While the bill to amend the Immigration Act to ban entry with Israeli passports was in parliament, PNC issued a statement on October 15 calling for the matter to be expedited.

In response to this statement, MP Meekail said this was a mockery of the people by PNC members.

Attorney General Ahmed Usham had recently described the delay in the amendment to the Immigration Act to ban Israeli citizens from entering the Maldives as a parliamentary issue.

The government announced its decision to amend the law to change the arrangement allowing Israelis to enter the Maldives on 2 June 2024.

After that, the bill to ban Israeli passports was accepted by the People’s Majlis and sent to the 241 Committee on June 10.

Due to the delay in the work on this bill, not only the opposition party MDP but also many members of the public have been criticizing the government and the PNC-affiliated majority in parliament.

Several have been saying that the Israeli passport issue has been prolonged in the current parliament assembly, which has been passing government-proposed issues at rocket speed, because the government does not want to do it.

Meanwhile, in the ongoing genocide against innocent Palestinian citizens by Israel, thousands are being martyred every day, with over 45,000 people killed so far. Many of the victims are children and women.