An island paradise known for its white, sandy beaches and the requirement that its citizens strictly follow Sunni Islam has closed its doors to holders of Israeli passports, citing “resolute solidarity with the Palestinian cause.”

On Monday, the Parliament of the Maldives passed a law amending its immigration laws which the country’s President Mohamed Muizzu then approved on Tuesday. In order for an Israeli to enter the Maldives, they would need a passport from another country.

While Maldivian parliamentarians had announced this decision in June 2024, they have only formalized it into law now. The government had postponed implementation and reviewed the measure due to concerns that the broad language of a blanket ban would affect those with Israeli passports who are Arab Muslim or Palestinian.

A spokesperson for Muizzu told Agence France-Presse this week that the law took effect immediately.

Muizzu’s office released a statement following the bill’s approval, saying that “the ratification reflects the government’s firm stance in response to the continuing atrocities and ongoing acts of genocide committed by Israel against the Palestinian people.”

During last year’s parliamentary debates about the bill, one lawmaker, Qasim Ibrahim, expressed his disagreement, warning that “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.” He said that “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 Maldives is a group of nearly 1,200 islands comprising almost 116 square miles in the Indian Ocean, southwest of India and Sri Lanka. None of the coral islands is higher than six feet above sea level. The population is approximately 530,000 people with its capital Malé including 392,000, making it one of the most densely packed cities on the planet. Islam was introduced to the islands in the 12th century, and they passed through colonial hands over the last 600 years, first with the Portuguese in the 1500s, then through the Dutch in the 1600s and British in the 1700s. The Maldives became an independent sultanate in 1965 before the sultan was deposed, leading to a president in 1968. Its tourism business began developing in the 1980s.

In February, 59 Israelis visited the Maldives along with 214,000 other foreign tourists. Last year, Israel’s Foreign Ministry advised against Israelis going to the country, repeating advice first issued in December 2023 following an increase in anti-Israel sentiment.

The Maldives has criminalized the practice of non-Muslim religions and is one of many Muslim countries which refuses to recognize the Jewish state. Others include Algeria, Bangladesh, Brunei, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen. Despite this lack of ties with Israel, the Maldives had reversed a previous ban on Israeli tourists in the early 1990s and also pursued potential relations in 2010, plans it halted in 2014.

Human Rights watchdog group Freedom House ranks the Maldives as “partly free” with a score of 43 on a 100-point scale. (In comparison, the organization regards Israel as “free” with a score of 73 and the United States as “free” at 84.)

According to Freedom House, “an opposition victory in the 2018 presidential election resulted in initial efforts to revise antidemocratic laws and establish transitional justice mechanisms. Despite improvements since the election, many basic freedoms remain restricted, and government-led efforts to reform the justice system remain nascent.”

In 2014, the Maldives passed a law mandating the death penalty for apostates from Islam, including for children as young as seven. The law also allows executions for murderers under 18. The country had not executed anyone since 1953, when a moratorium was passed, and has yet to execute those currently held on death row.

According to the Human Dignity Trust, the Maldives “criminalizes same-sex sexual activity between men and between women. Sentences include a maximum penalty of eight years’ imprisonment and 100 lashes. There is some evidence of the law being enforced in recent years, and limited reports of LGBT people being subjected to discrimination and violence.”

Muizzu assumed office after winning the Maldives’ 2023 presidential election with 54 percent of the votes. According to the BBC, he supports Chinese development in the country, and “China, with its rapidly expanding naval forces, would want access to such a strategically important location —something India wants to prevent. Beijing is also keen to protect its energy supplies from the Gulf which pass through that route.”

On Jan. 26, 2024, Muizzu wrote on X that “Maldives believes that Israel needs to stop the killing in Gaza and implement an immediate ceasefire. Every human life has value, which needs to be protected. Bombings, displacement, and apartheid will not bring peace. True and lasting peace can only be attained by establishing an independent Palestinian State based on pre-1967 borders.”

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