After 300 days, Majlis committee decides to ban Israeli passports until attacks on Palestine cease
The decision was made 316 days after the government announced that it had decided to ban Israeli passports
Israel Passport
The National Security Services Committee or the 241 Committee of the People's Majlis has decided to ban entry to the Maldives with Israeli passports until Israel stops its ongoing attacks on Palestine, in connection with the proposed issue of banning the entry of travelers carrying Israeli passports.
The decision was made at the committee meeting held on Monday, 316 days after the government announced that it had decided to ban Israeli passports.
The proposal was submitted at Monday's committee meeting by MP for Hulhudhoo constituency and the main ruling People’s National Congress (PNC)’s Deputy Parliamentary Group Leader Mohamed Shahid. He proposed to ban entry to the Maldives with Israeli passports until Israel ceases attacks on Palestine. Shahid has decided to remove the part of the bill that prohibits an Israeli person from entering the Maldives with a passport from another country.
Both of these amendments were seconded by MP for Villimalé constituency and PNC Deputy PG Leader Mohamed Ismail. The committee passed the bill unanimously with these amendments.
Such an amendment has been made at the committee stage while the Maldives Immigration had submitted an amendment to the bill to ban Israeli passports. The bill includes banning people carrying Israeli passports from entering the Maldives. However, the amendment proposed by Immigration states to ban entry only to those who present Israeli passports for entry to the Maldives.
The department said that the amendment was proposed because when foreigners enter the Maldives, the nationality of the foreigner is determined by the passport presented by the foreigner, and it cannot be confirmed whether the person is a dual citizen with passports from two countries.
Previously, Attorney General Ahmed Usham had also advocated for changing the provision that prevents everyone with an Israeli passport from entering the Maldives.
On 10 June 2024, the bill was passed for acceptance to the People’s Majlis and sent to the National Security Services Committee for review. However, lawmakers had been criticizing the fact that no committee meeting had been held regarding the bill before.
The work on the bill resumed after it had been stalled in the People's Majlis for nine months, while public dissatisfaction with the issue led to increased gatherings and protests.
As such, the public has been questioning the way the bill was being handled, while many bills and other work that the current administration and the parliament with its full majority want to submit were being submitted and passed within just a few hours.
In addition to this, at the parliamentary sitting held on 20 November 2024, when the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) submitted a resolution calling for expediting the issue of the bill submitted to the parliament to ban people from coming to the Maldives with Israeli passports, the resolution was rejected as well. Recently, an urgent matter submitted regarding the issue was also not rejected.
The government announced its decision to amend the law to change the arrangement allowing Israelis to enter the Maldives on 2 June 2024.
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.
Meanwhile, in the ongoing genocide against innocent Palestinian citizens by Israel, thousands are being martyred every day, with over 50,000 people killed so far. Many of the victims are children and women.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.
