Rabat — On Tuesday, April 15, Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu ratified the Third Amendment to the Maldives Immigration Act, following its passage by the People’s Majlis—the country’s unicameral legislative body—earlier that same day.
“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,” reads the official statement issued by the President’s Office.
Reiterating its steadfast support for Palestine, the Maldivian government reaffirmed its enduring commitment to defending Palestinian rights and demanding accountability for Israel’s systematic violations of international law.
The statement further stressed that Maldives backs the existence of a sovereign Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital, in alignment with United Nations resolutions and established international legal norms.
The pre-1967 borders, also referred to as the 1949 Armistice border or the Green Line, upholds the territories prior to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip during the Six-Day War. These borders represent the internationally recognized boundaries for a future Palestinian state.
The original bill proposing a ban on Israeli passport holders was introduced by the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party in May 2023. After a series of revisions, it was passed nearly 300 days later.
In December 2023, Israel issued a travel advisory against visiting the Maldives, citing a “heightened anti-Israel atmosphere, including public comments by officials” in reference to the global outcry as the entity’s genocidal campaign in Gaza was beginning to unfold.
Official data shows that 11,000 Israeli citizens visited the Maldives in 2024, making up just 0.6% of total arrivals. More recent data recorded only 59 Israeli visitors in February of this year.
Israel enforces a compulsory military draft requiring most Jewish citizens to serve in the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) from the age of 18, making the separation between the Israeli state and its civilian population functionally nonexistent.
The IOF, comprised of these citizens, actively carries out the apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. The settler-colonial nature of the Israeli state is further evident in the fact that its population exists on land stolen from Palestinians—while an estimated nine million Palestinians remain displaced across the globe.
