Maldives Israel ban backfires after country realises 2m Muslims would be barred from entry

Meanwhile, lawmaker Qasim Ibrahim reportedly critiqued the bill for targeting Jewish Israelis after saying, “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.

“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 Maldives decision came after pressure from opposition parties and government allies in the 100 per cent Sunni Muslim nation to ban Israelis as a result of the Israel-Hamas war.

Around 528 Israeli nationals visited the Maldives from January to April this year. This was down from 4,644 in the same period in 2023, according to Maldives government data.

Nearly 11,000 Israelis visited the archipelago last year, accounting for 0.6 per cent of total tourist arrivals.