The Maldives bans Israeli passport holders

[julili]

https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Business/wireStory/maldives-ban-israelis-entering-country-war-gaza-110754096

Wonder whether any other countries will follow suit.

According to Israeli law, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Iran are designated as enemy countries and an Israeli citizen must obtain a special permit from the Israeli Ministry of the Interior to visit these countries. One of the only Middle Eastern nations that allow visa-free travel for Israelis is the United Arab Emirates.
Meanwhile, the post has gone viral, generating an array of responses. One social media user reacted to the post and wrote, ''So literally nowhere important.'' Another commented, ''I don't even have an Israeli passport and I don't want to go to those countries.''

As of 2024, Israeli citizens have visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 171 countries and territories.

According to the Maldives and other countries Plus international groups apparently not.
But then as they are attacking their own people they wouldn't be seen as a threat to another country.

Quite. But these goalposts aren't going to move themselves, someone's got to do it.

Or just consequences and a really small country saying “What you are doing is wrong and while it continues you are not welcome here.” the best way it can.

@FrippEnos Neither Gaza nor Xinjiang are separate states, though many people believe they should be. The suffering in Xinjiang is less visible and less violent than Gaza; but the number of people oppressed is massively larger (about 600k in prison in Xinjiang, for example, about one-third of all China's prisoners, plus forced sterilization programmes). I don't think the fact it's the domestic government doing it makes it much (?any) better. What moral difference do you think that makes?

All of the countries listed above are victims of English imperialism and as such no amount of "handouts" given to their citizen could ever make up for the looting, plundering, killing of their citizens by England. Get off your moral high ground - the world no longer revolves around what you or your lot think.

your lot ?

I think they mean the English 🤨

Otherwise known as collective punishment.

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 😕

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

💯 agree scirocco.

Absolutely!!! @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.

100% @Scirocco

"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.

@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?

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.

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.