Maldives opposition seeks law amendment to ban Israel passport
Presidential Spokesperson Heena Waleed did not explain when it would be done, or why it was still not done.
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By
Aishath Maha
The opposition Maldives Democratic Party (MDP) has planned to ntroduce its first bill in the 20th Parliament to amend the Immigration Act in order to ban Israeli passport holders from entering Maldives.
Galolhu South MP Meekail Naseem said so in an X post on Thursday evening, indicating the priority the party gave to the matter. “As the first order of business in the 20th Parliament of Maldives …”, he began his X post thus.
The reasons he cited for the bill are:
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While the previous parliament had passed a resolution urging the government to ban the entry of Israelis into the Maldives in order to take action against Israel's campaign of genocide against the Palestinians, the government has so far failed to clarify how to deal with it.
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Since there is no specific time frame given for this, this bill would ban Israeli passports by directly changing the law
At the press conference held at the President’s Office on Wednesday, a journalist questioned why the government has still not decided on banning Israeli passports, and Presidential Spokesperson Heena Waleed responded cryptically, claiming that Maldives will take every step necessary to protect the Palestinian people, instead of answering the question directly.
Heena said Maldives is doing more for Palestine than any other country and ended the news conference with that.
