Washington ready to blackmail Maldives for banning Israeli travelers

News Desk - The Cradle

To further increase pressure against criticism of Israel, US lawmakers recently passed a bill to sanction ICC officials

US policymakers are working on ways to fight the Maldives decision to ban Israeli passport holders from entering the archipelagic state, Axios reported on 4 June.

Representative Josh Gottheimer is drafting legislation that conditions US aid to the Muslim-majority nation on the lifting of its travel ban, a source told the US-based news outlet.

Axios writes that Gottheimer is a top Israel defender in Congress and is working with both Democrat and Republican colleagues in drafting a bill to be dubbed the Protecting Allied Travel Here (PATH) Act.

“Taxpayer dollars shouldn't be sent to a foreign nation that has banned all Israeli citizens from traveling to their country,” Gottheimer said in a statement.

The representative added, “Not only is Israel one of our greatest democratic allies, but the Maldives' unprecedented travel ban is nothing but a blatant act of Jew-hatred. They shouldn't get a cent of American dollars until they reverse course.”

On 2 June, the Maldives issued a ban on the admission of Israeli passport holders to the country in an act of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

According to the president’s office, the nation is set to appoint a special envoy to study the needs of the Palestinian people and start a fundraiser dubbed “Maldivians in Solidarity with Palestine.”

In December, the Maldives imposed a docking ban to prevent Israeli ships from using its ports.

The US, in other moves to protect Israel, passed a bill to sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC) over its decision to issue arrest warrants against Israeli officials.

The bill passed with a 247 to 155 vote. The Republican Party’s 205 voting members all supported the bill, as well as 42 lawmakers from the Democratic Party.

It calls for extensive economic embargoes and visa restrictions on ICC judges and officials, as well as their family members.

“The Administration is deeply concerned about the ICC Prosecutor’s heedless rush to apply for arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials,” the White House said in a statement on Tuesday.

“The [Biden] Administration opposes the imposition of sanctions against the ICC, its personnel, its judges, or those who assist its work,” the statement continued. “There are more effective ways to defend Israel, preserve U.S. positions on the ICC, and promote international justice and accountability, and the Administration stands ready to work with the Congress on those options.”