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Maldives Postpones Israel Passport Ban, Cites Concerns Over Blanket Law Keeping Out Palestinians
Maldives Attorney General Ahmed Usham addresses reporters. Photo: Screenshot
The Maldives is reviewing its decision to ban Israeli citizens from entering the country due to concerns that the controversial proposal as currently written could keep out Palestinians, according to Ahmed Usham, the island nation’s attorney general.
“The biggest concern is that there are many Palestinians with Israeli passports, millions of them. What happens when we impose a blanket ban?” Usham told reporters at a press conference last week
According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), more than two million Arabs live in the Jewish state, comprising over 21 percent of the total population. According to recent polling, however, most Arab citizens of Israel do not identity as Palestinians.
Still, Usham emphasized that while the government’s position on barring Israelis remains unchanged, the prospect of a blanket ban also affecting those with Israeli passports who are Arab Muslim or Palestinian presents challenges warranting further review.
“These are matters that need careful consideration,” he told reporters.
Earlier this month, the office of Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu announced that the archipelago nation in South Asia in the Indian Ocean would block all Israeli passport holders from entering the country. A week later, the Maldives parliament moved ahead with a bill to amend the immigration law to bar entry to both Israeli passport holders and Israelis with dual citizenship — even if the latter enter the country using a different passport. It was accepted and sent to a committee for review.
However, the government has decided to amend the bill to address the concerns outlined by Usham.
Although Muizzu’s party holds a supermajority in the Maldives’ legislature, there was a minority of dissenting voices to the legislation, such as businessman and lawmaker Qasim Ibrahim, who accused the bill of singling out Jews.
“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 reportedly told fellow members of parliament. “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 government’s apparent decision to create some sort of exception to the ban for Arab Israelis, who are largely Muslim, may lend credence to Ibrahim’s concerns. Jews comprise about 73 percent of Israel’s population.
In response to the Maldives’ planned passport ban, the US Congress is preparing to take action. US Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), a strong supporter of Israel, has proposed legislation that would sanction the Maldives and any other nation that sought to ban Jewish entry. The bill would condition American aid to the Maldives on allowing Israeli citizens to enter the country.
“Taxpayer dollars shouldn’t be sent to a foreign nation that has barred all Israeli citizens from traveling to their country,” Gottheimer said in a statement earlier this month. “The Maldives’ unprecedented travel ban is nothing but a blatant act of Jew hatred.”
In addition to concerns over the bill’s allegedly antisemitic intent, many Maldivians fear the bill’s fallout for its tourism industry. According to the World Bank, tourism accounts for nearly one-third of the Maldives’ economy.
The Maldives, known for its pristine beaches, has attracted Israeli tourists, primarily surfers. In 2023, over 11,000 Israelis visited the country.
In light of the travel ban, Israel’s foreign ministry has recommended Israelis avoid the Maldives. “For citizens already in the country, it is recommended to consider leaving, because if they find themselves in distress for any reason, it will be difficult for us to assist,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Israel has not had diplomatic relations with the Maldives — a chain of islands that require its citizens and politicians to strictly adhere to Sunni Islam — since 1974. In the early 1990s, Israel allowed tourists to visit the islands. Even as Israeli tourism boomed, however, the Maldives prohibited direct flights between Malé, its capital, and Tel Aviv. An article published in Israel Hayom in 2021 sparked a frenzy on social media after announcing a direct airlink between the two countries operated by the travel company Caminos. The Maldives Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation quickly refuted the claim.
The Maldives is not the only country to ban Israeli tourists. Israeli passport holders have also not been allowed to enter Algeria, Bangladesh, Brunei, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen.
In response to the Maldives’ ban, the Israeli Embassy in India encouraged Israeli tourists to instead visit Indian beaches, tweeting, “Since the Maldives is no longer accepting Israelis, here are some beautiful and amazing Indian beaches where Israeli tourists are warmly welcomed and treated with utmost hospitality.”
The post Maldives Postpones Israel Passport Ban, Cites Concerns Over Blanket Law Keeping Out Palestinians first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.