Maldives realises Israel has Arab-Muslims, rethinks blanket ban on Israelis

The Maldives has done a volte-face and is not going ahead with its plans of banning Israeli tourists after realising that a blanket ban could impact the around two million Arab citizens of Israel.

In the first week of June, the Maldives had decided to impose a ban on the entry of Israeli citizens to the archipelago, a statement by the Maldivian President’s office said. It was planning to amend necessary laws to ban the entry of Israeli cities into the country.

The decision was formally announced by Homeland Security and Technology Minister, Ali Ihusan, after a cabinet meeting, which was led by Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu.

However, after two weeks, the Maldives has realised that Israel isn’t just about Jews and the country has two million Arab-Muslims too. In fact, Arab-Muslims constitute 21% of Israel’s population.

This realisation has made the Islamic nation of the Maldives rethink its ban on Israelis.

The Algemeiner on Tuesday quoted the Maldivian Attorney General, Ahmed Usham, as saying that the government was reviewing its decision to ban Israeli citizens from entering the country.

“The biggest concern is that there are many Palestinians with Israeli passports, millions of them. What happens when we impose a blanket ban?” Ahmed Usham told reporters at a press conference, The Algemeiner reported.

Ahmed Usham, however, stressed that while the government’s stand on barring Israelis remained unchanged, but that it was only reconsidering the impact of a blanket law on Israeli passports who are Arab Muslim or Palestinians.

“These are matters that need careful consideration,” Usham said, signalling a further review.

The plan of a blanket ban on Israelis has faced criticism from Maldivian lawmakers too.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Maldivian lawmaker Qasim Ibrahim critiqued the bill banning Israelis from the Maldives as singling out Jewish Israelis.

“When we decide that a person with Israeli nationality can’t come to the Maldives, that means we’re talking about deciding that Jews can’t come,” Ibrahim told his fellow parliamentarians, according to Jerusalem Post.

“Therefore, as they are people who have believed in prophets of a religion revealed by Allah, we need to think very deeply about the chance of us doing such a thing, from that perspective. We need to think about that very carefully.”

The party of Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu holds a majority in parliament and isn’t taking into account the dissenting voices.

Unlike Israel, where Muslims are also citizens, the Maldives is an Islamic country that follows the strict Sharia laws, and citizenship is based on adherence to Islam.