The Maldives bans Israeli passport holders

@NecessaryNC24

"Countries that will do this - that is conflate all Israelis - Jews - with IDF military operations are racist and anti-Semitic."

Forgive me if I've got this wrong, but I don't remember your outrage at anything the IDF has done. You have consistently supported their actions.

So what is there to conflate?

Indeed.

Boycotts go both ways.

And Many Atheist gentiles like me feel the same way.

@NecessaryNC24 absolutely right. Countries that will do this - that is conflate all Israelis - Jews - with IDF military operations are racist and anti-Semitic.

I think that posters supporting this need to understand what it is they are supporting and what it reveals about their thinking to all reading this thread.

Boycott them!

And I will peacefully abstain from ever visiting there now (it was on my list) because a people that will generalise all Israelis in that way makes me wonder what they'd think of me.

Not a place I'd want to go.

Wise. Boycott the Maldives and they’ll soon be begging for mercy. Unlike Israel, which is an economic powerhouse, they’re just a tourist playground.
And what a fine record on human rights:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_the_Maldives

"Human rights in the Maldives, an archipelagic nation of 417,000 people off the coast of the Indian Subcontinent,[1] is a contentious issue. In its 2011 Freedom in the World report, Freedom House declared the Maldives "Partly Free", claiming a reform process which had made headway in 2009 and 2010 had stalled.[2] The United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor claims in their 2012 report on human rights practices in the country that the most significant problems are corruption, lack of religious freedom, and abuse and unequal treatment of women.[3]
The Maldives has a longstanding practice of employing criminal defamation laws as a means to suppress dissent."

" Moreover, the government has imposed stringent limitations on assemblies, resulting in the prohibition or severe restriction of peaceful rallies and protests. These actions have raised concerns about the state of freedom of expression and civil liberties in the country.[4]"

I I am sure that people who who have celebrated this announcement are also very supportive of free speech, freedom of expression and protests.

The Israelis won't miss this place and intelligent people will recognise the irony in this decision.

Thousands of Palestinian children have died since October 7th, thousands.

How many 6, 7 or 8 years olds do you think are capable of "handing over Hamas"?

I agree.

Sanctions were key to ending apartheid in South Africa.

I never said that you agree with the collective punishment of Palestinians and like I said earlier on in the thread I personally would only agree with targeted travel bans on Israelis, that's a pretty normal sanction and it's shameful that it hasn't been done by all Western countries

I suppose seeing the stark reality, that Israelis are getting 'inflamed' over travel bans to luxury holiday destinations whilst their government starves children, it just feels so fucked up. It really illustrates the power imbalance and the fact that even though both are at war Gaza and Israel are existing in two very different worlds.

As a gesture, it carries weight. Sanctions such as those imposed for Russia would be preferable in my view but somebody has got to do something to stop what the Israeli government are doing.

The Maldives are a sovereign state and have every right to control who comes in or not. They are showing their objection to what is happening in Gaza by introducing this ban as it is their right.

@SammyScrounge because Hamas and the majority of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories do not have travel documents and do not go in holidays. Do you actually understand what it means to be a Gazan?

"Good News! the deaths in Palestinian are voluntary. "

I cannot believe that someone actually wrote that.

"Apparently everyone in Palestinian is happy with the situation as it is."

Yeah, they're thrilled that in the West Bank in 2023, prior to Oct 7th, 506 Palestinians were shot by the IDF, of whom 120 were children.

But yeah, it all started on Oct 7th.

100% @Scirocco

Boycotting, and shunning are trait ways of expressing displeasure. Ultimately this is a peaceful way of the Maldives showing how they feel about Israel’s actions.

Absolutely!!! @Scirocco

💯 agree scirocco.

I’ve never said collective punishment in Gaza is right, or minimised what is going on in Gaza. And I’m not comparing not being able to go on luxury holidays to what is happening in Gaza. Of course they are not the same. But it is hypocritical nonetheless. And if I feel like that, guaranteed a lot of other Israelis feel the same.

I'm just so frustrated with this, it feels like pouring fuel on the fire, and is going to further inflame tensions.

As someone who has lost loved ones in Gaza, this is an utterly horrible thing to say.

My friends and colleagues did not "volunteer" to die. Many of them were bravely working in hospitals and camps for displaced people, to try to save lives.

Their families did not "volunteer" to die. Nor did their children volunteer to be injured and scarred for life.

"Ordinary Palestinians" can't do anything to stop this. They can't "hand over Hamas" - they don't even have enough food to save their children from malnutrition, let alone the resources to stage a coup in the middle of a warzone. They can't free hostages themselves for the same reason.

It has already been made clear on multiple occasions by the Israeli government that the return of the hostages would not be sufficient to end the assault on Gaza. That nothing short of "total victory" will suffice.

If anyone started saying that the deaths of innocent Israeli citizens were "voluntary" due to the actions of a government and military over which they have no authority, that person would rightfully be condemned and corrected for saying something so horrendous about the deaths of innocent people, especially when people directly affected by loss would be able to read what was written. The same applies to innocent Palestinians and others risking their lives and dying in Gaza. The same consideration should be given to people with loved ones in Gaza as to people with loved ones in Israel.

It is anti semitism at play.
Why aren't they banning Hamas who started the war with unspeakable brutality!?

All of us? Or are some of us more hated than others I wonder.

So much love, peace and goodwill here, it's a shocker people don't holiday here.

If you feel comfortable with your post then that is great. I was just commenting on how comparing a luxury holiday with the purposeful starvation of children came across to me.

perhaps. But I find it intensely hypocritical when Israel has been accused relentlessly of ethnic cleansing and collective punishment, that an action to punish all Israelis, and ensure 50% of the world’s Jews can’t enter a country, is being applauded here.

two wrongs don’t make a right.

It seems a bit flippant or crass or something to call not being able to go on holidays to a luxury destination like the Maldives 'collective punishment' when the people of Gaza are trapped, falling into famine and children are dying of malnutrition due to Israels collective punishment. I don't know it just feels in really bad taste 😕

Otherwise known as collective punishment.

I think they mean the English 🤨