Israel passport ban bill forwarded to Parliament's 241 Committee

The bill proposing the ban of all Israeli passport holders in to the Maldives, submitted to the parliament by opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) was accepted by the parliament today, and forwarded to the 241 committee which oversees the operations of the security services under Article 241 of the country's constitution.

The bill expressly proposes the ban of all Israeli passport holders regardless of their citizenship status with another country, and states that this is a measure taken against the genocide of the Palestinian people by Israel.

While the bill was debated on the Parliament floor today, it was passed to be forwarded to the Committee by a unanimous vote of all members present today.

The bill was proposed to be forwarded to the 241 Committee by ruling People's National Congress (PNC)'s parliamentary group leader MP Ibrahim Falah, who said that the bill needs to be sent to the Committee if they wish to expedite the bill and reach the desired result with sincerity.

This comes as the Maldivian cabinet decided to amend the country's law to ban Israelis from entering the country. However, the bill in question was already submitted to the Parliament by MDP's MP for South Galolhu constituency Meekail Ahmed Naseem at the time of the government's decision.

As such, the government's direction is towards supporting the bill and further amending it.

In light of this, there is global speculation as to how this decision would impact the Maldivian tourism industry. Figures show that approximately 11,000 Israeli tourists arrived to the Maldives from Israel last year, which is a 30 percent decrease from the previous year. Between December 2023 and April 2024, only 528 tourists from Israel visited the Maldives.